Crystal Tears
by akane.neko
Summary: Completed at last! Hope you like it! :)
1. A 2nd ViceCaptain? A Girl?

**_Disclaimer:__     Standard disclaimer applies.  I don't own SD (how I wish I do :P)._**

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**Chapter 1 - A 2nd Vice-Captain!?  A Girl!?**

Fujima Tsuki sat by the window with her head leaning on the window sill, her almost waist length dark brown hair spread over her back.  A drop of silent tear slide down her flawless cheek.  The moon is shining brightly tonight, and gazing at the dark blue sea in front of her window, she let her thoughts slip back to the day when the accident happened.  The accident which took her parents away from her forever, leaving her an orphan. 

Another tear escape her beautiful but now redden blue eyes as the memories returned.

She heard tires screeching followed by a loud bang, then everything was black.  The next thing she knows, she hurt all over and woke up in a hospital bed.  The sympathy in the nurses and doctors eyes troubled her, and before long, she was told of her parents' death.  She was too shocked to express any reaction to the news, until a warm hand enveloped hers and told her everything's going to be all right.  That hand belonged to her uncle Fujima Shiuichi.

After staying a month recovering in the hospital, Tsuki was released, and she was brought back to her homeland Japan by Shiuichi.  Once they reached Kanagawa, Tsuki found the feeling of home again.  She was welcomed by her aunt, Fujima Kazumi and her cousin Fujima Kenji.

Although Tsuki had lived most of her life in America, she and Kenji are still very close since her parents will bring her back to Japan for most of her school holidays.  To bring her out of her sorrow, Kenji introduced his close friends to her.  They all quickly become good friends, and the older boys were like the older brother she has always wanted, although they seem to be a little childish sometimes (:P).

Counting the days, Tsuki realized she has been back in Japan for almost two weeks now, and she needs to go for the entrance exam at the soon-to-be new school tomorrow.  She wiped her tears away, and went to sleep on that thought.  Just before she slept, she looked at the framed picture on her bedside table.

"Tou-san, kaa-san, I won't live in the past anymore.  I will forget all the sorrows and continue to live happily for both of you, everyone who cares about me, and most of all for myself."  Tsuki whispered, then fell asleep with a smile on her face.

{         {         {         {         {

*Shohoku High School*

Principle: "You've done well in your entrance exam Tsuki san."

"Thank you."  Tsuki replied quietly.

"Well, by the look of your results, you will be allocated to year two instead of year one, since your academic ability has surpassed those of your age group."

"…"

The intercom speaker on the principle's desk beeped, followed by the secretary's voice saying, "Sir, Anzai Sensei is here."

"Let him in."  Replied the principle.

A soft knock is heard on the door.  It then slide open showing a plum middle aged man, who looked like Santa Claus.

The principle offered the man a sit next to Tsuki.

"Anzai Sensei, this is Fujima Tsuki san.  She is the one I spoke to you about earlier."

Anzai Sensei looked at Tsuki and smiled.  He gave Tsuki the feeling of a grandfather smiling so ever kindly to his grandchild.  Tsuki smiled back politely.

"Fujima kondachi, from what I have heard, you were a basketball player back in your old school in the States, and you were MVP three years in a row in the national and state championships.  Am I correct?"

Tsuki was surprised at this, but she still replied politely.  "Hai sensei."

Anzai sensei's smile broadened.  "Would you like to join the Shohoku basketball team then, Tsuki chan?"

At this, Tsuki was even more surprised.  She questioned, "But isn't the basketball team here an all guys' team?"

"Yes, but we can make an exception for you due to your skills at the sport.  Also, Kainan High School is also bringing in a female member into their team, so it is also alright for us to have you on our team."

Tsuki nodded, "I see."

Pondering on the thought, Tsuki asked Anzai sensei, "Can I ask a question before I decide on joining?"

"Of course."

"If it's OK, can I take a look at the team first?  I really want to know what type of team is Shohoku before I make my decision."  "But if it's too much of a bother, then don't worry about it."  She added.

"Of course you can Tsuki chan."  Anzai sensei turned to the principle, "If there is nothing else you want to inform her about then may I steal her from you Mr. Murasaki?"

The principle laughed cheerily, "Sure sure, I've told her everything she needs to know already."  He then turned to Tsuki, "I hope you do decide to join our team."

Tsuki smiled, "I will consider about the invitation carefully sir."

With that, Anzai sensei led Tsuki to the Gym where the team was practicing.

{         {         {         {         {

*Shohoku Gym*

Ayako spotted Anzai sensei and immediately brought a chair over for him to sit on.

"Good afternoon sensei."  Ayako greeted the coach with her ever cheery voice.

"Good afternoon Ayako kondachi."

Ayako looked curiously at Tsuki, and then took out her hand for a hand shake with Tsuki.  "Hi, I'm Ayako, manageress of the basketball team.  You are?"

Tsuki smiled at Ayako, "Watashi wa Fujima Tsuki desu."

"You're a new student here?  Just transferred?  Your Japanese has a funny accent to it."

Tsuki laughed at Ayako's comments.  "Hai.  New here.  Just transferred here.  My Japanese is not that funny is it?"

Ayako shrugged.  "Well…it's funny enough."

At that they both laughed.  Tsuki felt that she's already fond of a friend like Ayako.

Anzai sensei smiled at the two girls, and then turned to Tsuki.  "So what do you think of the team, Tsuki chan?"

Tsuki turned her head towards the courts and observed their training.  She turned back to Anzai sensei after a short while.  "Not bad, but there's still room for improvements."  Tsuki said with a light smile.

Anzai sensei nodded.  "And your decision is?"

Tsuki's eyes sparkled and her smile reached her eyes.  "Yes."

Anzai sensei smiled at that answer and stood up to gather the members.

"Team, we have a new member as of today."  He motioned Tsuki to step forward.  "This is Fujima Tsuki, and she will be one of our team members as of today.  She is also going to be the team's second vice-captain, next to Rukawa kondachi."

Tsuki bowed at the crowd.  "Nice to meet you all."

And the reaction to this announcement just made, everyone was speechless and dumbfounded.

  


akane's Tea House 

Hi! J  My first try at writing a fanfic, but this story's been at the back of my head for ages though, just haven't got around to putting  it in words, until now that is. :P  Anyway, if you've read this chapter, and like it, pls send me a review at akane44@lycos.com …flames are also welcomed of course ^_~  But…pls do be kind with me, if not I might not have the courage to continue~~~  ciao~ J


	2. She's Good!

**_Disclaimer:__     Standard disclaimer applies.  I don't own SD (how I wish I do :P)._**

_NB:      akane's from the land down-under, i.e. __Australia__…so akane actually dun have any idea about how the high school games work in the States.  So…please excuse akane for any falsities, besides, this is a fanfic and not reality right? :P *grins*  Also, anything in brackets = akane's ramblings.  Cheers~_

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**Chapter 2 - She's Good!**

Miyagi was the first one to recover.  "Ano…Sensei, did I just hear what I thought I heard?"  He asked Anzai sensei with bewildered eyes.

Anzai sensei was amused.  "Ho.  Ho.  Ho…Yes Miyagi kondachi.  Ho.  Ho.  Ho."

Miyagi returned to being dumbfounded on that! (LOL!!! :P)

Tsuki ignored everyone's blank expression.  "Sensei, I need to get going now.  I have a few things I need to take care of before school starts next week."

"OK."  Anzai sensei nodded.  "But will you join us for practice tomorrow afternoon at two?"

"Yes I will sensei."

Tsuki bowed to Anzai sensei, and nodded at everyone else before she left the Gym.  She got into her car, a chrome colored Skyline GTR 34 N1 (yes, she's driving a very slick machine! :D) and drove off.

{         {         {         {         {

Meanwhile, back in the Gym ……

Ayako finally snapped out of the little "trance" she and the others are having, and with her infamous paper fan, she hit everyone back to reality.

"ITAI!!!"  Screamed everyone, and holding on to the newly grown bumps on their heads.

Satisfied with her handy work, Ayako swung around to face Anzai sensei.

"Sensei, I don't understand why you've appointed Tsuki-chan as the vice-captain."

"Ayako kondachi, you will find out soon."  He said to everyone with a mysterious grin, "All of you will see the reason behind that at tomorrow's practice."

"Huh!?"  Everyone returned to their silly blank faces again.  (Sigh…)

{         {         {         {         {

*Shohoku – Locker Room*

"Oi Miyagi, what d'you think about that new girl?"  Mitsui asking Miyagi as he changed.

"Nothing so far."  Stuffing all his things into his duffel bag.  "Guess we'll find out tomorrow."  Miyagi shrugged.

"Sou desu ne."  Mitsui swung his bag over his shoulder.  "Ja then, cya tomorrow."

"Ja ne."

Leaving the others in the change room, Mitsui and Miyagi begin to head home.

{         {         {         {         {

*Fujima Residence*

Tsuki opened the high steel gates with the remote in her car then drove up the driveway and parked her car in the garage.  Taking a few shopping bags out of the car, she went in the house.

"Tadaima."

"Okaili."  Replied a cheerful voice, from a woman in her early forties seated in the living room, her Aunt Kazumi.  "Come join me for tea Tsuki."

Tsuki held up her bags, "Maybe later.  I need to go put these away first."

"OK dear."

Tsuki walked upstairs to her room and began to arrange everything she just bought into their rightful places.  When she finished, she stepped out onto the balcony adjoining to her room and saw her cousin playing basketball, three on three with a few of his friends on the court downstairs.

Kenji looked up and saw his cousin standing on her balcony and waved, and gestured her to come down to join them.

Tsuki smile at that and went back inside.  She quickly changed her sleeveless blouse and khakis into t-shirt and shorts.  Grapping her snickers as she went out of her room, she walked towards the basketball court in the backyard.

The Fujima residence is huge.  Its backyard has not only the basketball court, it also has a tennis court and a pool.  There's also an outdoor alfresco entertaining area, set up with BBQ and all.

Before Tsuki went out of the house, she declined her aunt's invite for tea again.  She walked down to the court and was just in time to see Hanagata make a dunk shot.

"Go Toru nii-chan!"  She shouted cheerfully.

Hanagata Toru adjusted his glasses and smiled at Tsuki.

"Tsuki, join us for the game."  Maki walking over to where she stood with the ball.

Tsuki looked at the court and counted.  "You guys have enough players ne."

"You can sub in for me Tsuki."  Kenji said as he reached for his towel.

"You sure Kenji nii-chan?"

"Yeah.  I need a break anyways."

"Okies."  With a shrug, Tsuki entered the court in place of Kenji.

On court, there were players from both Hainan and Shoyo.  Maki, Jin, and Takasago from Kainan, and Hasegawa and Hanagata from Shoyo.  Now with Tsuki stepping in, she's the sixth player among the guys, in place of Kenji.

With that little break, they've rested enough and the game started again.  The Kainan guys are leading by 4 points at the moment, and it's Kainan's ball.

Maki dribbled the ball slowly with a grin on his face.  "Be careful now, Tsuki-chan."

"Bring it on!"  Tsuki accepted Maki's challenge with a smile.

This is the first time she'd stepped on to a basketball court after arriving back in Japan.  So…no one knows how her skills are, but they're about to find out.

As the game proceed, Maki find it rather difficult to get pass Tsuki's defenses.  It's so damn tight, not even a small crack in it!  It seems that Tsuki's covered every single position and it's hard for him to dribble up to the basket or attempt a shot from where he is now, and he definitely don't want to risk passing the ball to either Jin or Takasago.

With Maki off in his little mind trip, Tsuki saw the chance and took it.  She slapped the ball out of Maki's hand and before Maki can react, she did a long pass to Hanagata who's standing right below the basket.  Upon receiving the ball, Hanagata made a beautiful fade-away shot immediately.

They were all rather shocked at what just happened.  TSUKI STOLE THE BALL FROM MAKI!  MAKI UNABLE TO BREAK THROUGH TSUKI'S DEFENSES!  (we know how big a deal this is right? *akane grins evilly*)  So…they all jaw-dropped!  Including Kenji, who's standing on court side.

"What…how…how the heck did you do that Tsuki!?"  Kenji blurted out.

Tsuki just shrugged.  "No biggie."

With that statement, everyone present retorted.  "What do you mean no biggie!?  You just kick Maki's ass back there!  He's the best guard, in fact the MVP of the Kanagawa prefecture!"

"Eh?"  Tsuki look at them all with a confused look.  "So your point is?"

They all sweat-dropped.  Big time!

Regaining his composure, Jin said: "So the point is you just managed to get passed one of the best player in Japan, in the high school section anyways."

"K…and that's a big deal?"  Tsuki asked back.  Everyone sweat-dropped again.

Tsuki stared at all of them.  "What!?  Shinichi nii-chan had quite a few openings in his defense just now.  So I broke through them, that's not that big a deal."

"Yes it is!"  They all replied in unison.

Tsuki sweat-dropped this time, and turned chibi formed.

"Well, I guess she's not the MVP player in the female division of the state and national high school games back in the States for nothing."  Kenji blurted out sheepishly.

"NANI!?"  Everyone stared at Kenji and shouted.  "And you didn't tell us that!?"

Kenji sweat-dropped, "Ano…oops!? Hehehe…"  (:P)

Maki threw his hands up in the air, "K, that's it.  I've had enough for today, enough shocks for my system that is."  He glared at Kenji.  Kenji extra sweat-dropped.

Tsuki still didn't get the drift of things.  "Huh?  Does that mean you guys wanna stop playing already?"

"Yes!"  Everyone replied her in unison with a death glare, except for Kenji.

(Gees…Tsuki's slow at times.  But what can I say? *shrugs* :P hehehe…)

"Err…K…"  Tsuki blurted out.

Kenji walked over and patted Tsuki on the shoulders.  "Don't worry, we can play some other time.  But honestly, I guess I should've told them about your bball history before."

At that, everyone nodded in agreement.

"Ah!"  Tsuki finally realized what the problem is.  "Guess the Jap bball standards are not as good as the State's huh?"

Everyone sweat-dropped and nodded again, and let out a mushroom breath each.

"But you guys can still play with me right?  I mean, it's a chance for you guys to learn as well."  Tsuki snickered.

"Hmph!!"  Everyone glared at Tsuki, and she sweat-dropped turning chibi once more.

{         {         {         {         {

*Next Day – Shohoku Gym*

Tsuki arrived at two on the dot, but she's the last one here.  She quickly dumped her bag at one corner, said hi to everyone and joined the group for warm ups.

After the warm ups and dunno how many laps around the courts, Anzai sensei showed up telling the members to start practice off with some shooting.

Split up into groups, Tsuki was asked to lead the group consisting of herself, Sasaoka, Ishii, and Kuwata (basically, the ex-freshmen now sophomore members) to one end of one court to check out their shooting skills.  If she finds any problems, she should correct them.

"So what do you think Miyagi?"  Mitsui asked Miyagi as he walked up next to the captain with a ball in his hand.  Both Mitsui and Miyagi (and practically every single member of the team) were observing Tsuki.

Miyagi shrugged, "Just by looking, she's got good posture and techniques and all when she's shooting.  But can't really tell how good she is, not until we see her in a game."

Mitsui nodded in agreement.

After about an hour of shooting practice, Anzai sensei gathered everyone and asked them to start a three on three game.  Seniors vs. sophomores.

Sophomore team members were Ishii, Sasaoka, and Tsuki.  The other side, the seniors' team members were Miyagi, Kakuta, and Yasuda.  Mitsui was the umpire (Mitsui gets that a lot huh?  Wonder y …).

Just before they're gonna start the game, Akagi Haruko, the team's vice-manageress arrived.

"Gomen minna, I'm late."  She said apologetically.

"Haruko chan, where have you been?"  Snapped Ayako.

"Gomen ne sempai.  I was talking to Sakuragi-kun on the phone before I came.  He said he's coming back this afternoon."  Haruko said cheerfully.  "Also, Rukawa-kun's coming back today too.  So we'll see both of them at practice tomorrow."

All the faces brightened up on hearing this news, except for Tsuki since she has no idea who Sakuragi and Rukawa are.

"Okay people, get back to the game."  Miyagi said authoritively.

"Hai captain."

So, off the game went.  The game lasted for about 30min and Tsuki's skill surprised and shocked everyone.  She's faster than Miyagi at speed and can jump higher than Miyagi as well.  Also, she's a damn good shooter.  All the shots made by Tsuki went into the hoop, and when the ball's in her hands, no one managed to steal it from her.  But most of all, she was able to bring out the positive sides of the other two sophomores' skills.  Therefore, the two normally timid players shone in that game.

"Sugoi!"  Grasped Haruko.  "Ne, Ayako sempai, who's that girl?"

"She's the new vice-captain of the team.  Her name is Fujima Tsuki."  Ayako replied.  She's also amazed by Tsuki's skill.

"Huh?  I thought Rukawa kun's the new vice-captain?"  Asked a puzzled Haruko, and not to mention slightly irritated.  (you know what I mean minna)

"Rukawa is the vice-captain, just that we're having two vice-captains this year.  Rukawa and Tsuki-chan."  Explained Ayako.

"Aa.  Sou ."  A blushing Haruko whispered.

At this sight of Haruko, Ayako laughed and teased her more about Rukawa.  As usual, Haruko turned redder and redder. (LOL!!)

When the game finished, everyone was praising Tsuki.  However, Tsuki just smiled and kept quiet since she didn't know what to say in return.

Haruko went up to Tsuki and introduced herself.  "Hi.  Watashi wa Akagi Haruko desu.  I'm the vice-manageress of the team."

"I'm Fujima Tsuki, nice meeting you Haruko-san."  Smiled Tsuki.

"Nice meeting you too."  "You know, you're the best female bball player I've met."

"Thanks."

"I bet'cha as good as Rukawa kun."

Tsuki thought:  There's that name again.

"Ano…sorry to ask, but who is this Rukawa person?"  Tsuki asked.

Haruko's expression practically froze at that question.  "You haven't heard of Rukawa-kun?  You're not one single bit familiar with the name Rukawa Kaede?"  She asked wide-eyed.

Tsuki shook her head.  "Nope.  I just came back to Japan a couple of weeks ago, so I have no idea what the bball situation in Japan is like."

"Ah!  I see.  Well, Rukawa kun is one of the best bball players in the high school division in Japan.  He went to the national bball youth training camp after the IH, but he's coming back today, so you'll be able to see him tomorrow during practice."  Haruko explained enthusiastically.

"I see.  Then who's this Sakuragi guy?"

"Sakuragi kun's a great player as well!  But he's been rehabilitating in a hospital since he injured his back in the IH game against Sannoh, that's why he's not here.  But he was released from hospital just this morning, so he's coming back today, and he'll also be here for practice tomorrow.  I'll introduce you to both him and Rukawa-kun tomorrow."

"Okay."

"Oi Fujima!"  Yelled Miyagi.

Tsuki and Haruko turned around to face Miyagi.

"You're good!"  Exclaimed Miyagi, and nodded Mitsui who's standing next to Miyagi.

"Thank you captain."  Replied Tsuki with a small smile curling up her lips.

"Ho.  Ho.  Ho.  Minna, everyone has seen Tsuki kondachi displayed her skills.  From now on, I hope that everyone will be able to learn from her."  Announced Anzai sensei.

"Sakuragi and Rukawa are not going to like this."  Ayako mumbled.

"OK, that's it for today then.  We'll come back for practice tomorrow afternoon at the same time.  Dismissed."  Anzai sensei declared.

Miyagi assigned Kuwata and Sasaoka to clean up the gym and everyone else left.

akane's tea house:

Hi minna-san!  We meet again… :D

How do you guys like it so far?  In other words, review please?  Pretty please???  *^_^*

Just to clarify one thing, Tsuki's gonna be paired up with our beloved ice block, Rukawa.  ^_^  Can't help it, akane's in love with the guy.  *sighs~~~ and akane's eyes just turned heart shaped*  Oops…sumimasen, back to reality now…  *cough cough and blushes*

Hmmm…do you think I should let Miyagi get Ayako finally?  And, should I be nice to Haruko and pair her up with someone that she deserves, or should I do some Haruko bashing?  akane do wonder … … …

Anyways…tell me what you think.  If you wanna throw flames at akane, you're definitely welcomed as well…but akane hopes you won't be doing that *fingers crossed  ^_~*

Okies…ciao then…till next time~ :D


	3. Fire, Ice, and Cat?

**Chapter 3 - Fire, Ice and "Cat"?**

*Parking Lot of Shohoku*

Tsuki was just about to get into her car and heard Haruko shouting.

"Tsuki-chan!"

Tsuki turned around and saw Haruko and Ayako running towards her.

"Hey Haruko-chan, Ayako sempai."

"Wow, this car is yours?"  Ayako asked in bewilderment.

Tsuki nodded.  "My father bought it for me on my sixteenth birthday."  There was a flash of pain in her eyes when she spoke of this, but it was gone as soon as it came.

Ayako whistled.  "Nice car!  But how can you drive?  Aren't you still too young to drive?"

"I've got my driving license back in the States, and converted it to an international driving license before I returned to Japan.  So I can drive anywhere."

"Lucky you!  I don't even have my student license yet."  Ayako said jealously.

Tsuki laughed softly at that.  "Hey, where're you guys going?  I can give you a ride there."

The two girls' eyes sparkled and their faces lit upon that offer.  "Honto ni?"

Tsuki nodded.  "C'mon, get it."  She gestured them to climb in and got into the driver's seat herself.

"So, where are you guys headed?"  Tsuki asked as she backed the car out of the parking lot in a swift J-turn.

"No where actually, we're just going home."  Answered Haruko

"K, tell me where your houses are then, I'll drop you guys off."

"Okays."  Ayako and Haruko answered in unison.

The chrome Skyline moved out of the school ground like an elegant panther, carrying Tsuki with new found friendship.

{         {         {         {         {

*Shohoku Gym*

"Tadaima!"  Shouted a tall boy with bright red hair, whilst the other, a tall raven haired boy standing next to him remained silent, and his icy blue eyes scanned the gym.

"Okaili Sakuragi!"  Everyone in the gym shouted back enthusiastically.  

"Okaili Rukawa!"  Softer, but still loud enough to reach the other end of the courts where the two stood to hear.

Ayako came over to Sakuragi and Rukawa smiling, and gave both of them a friendly smack on the back.  "Welcome back you two, we've all missed you."

"Ayako-chan!  I've missed you too ne."  With that Sakuragi hugged the curly haired manageress.

"Itai!"  Sakuragi screamed and let go of Ayako.  Turning around he saw a very hyped up Miyagi.  "Nani o Ryochin!?  That hurt!"

"Shut up Hanamichi and keep your hands to yourself!  Don't you dare touch Ayako-chan again! AND DON'T CALL ME RYOCHIN!"  Exploded the captain.

With his fingers in his ears to block out Miyagi's shouting, Sakuragi grumbled, "OK, OK, no need to shout…"

"What was that Hanamichi?"  Miyagi asked with a raised eye brow.

"Nandamonai."  Sakuragi ran off to join the other members.

Miyagi glared at Sakuragi.  He later turned around, "Great to see you back Rukawa."

Rukawa nodded his head in reply.  He walked over to the bball rack, took a ball from it and started shooting hoops.

Tsuki walked into the gym with Haruko, her brother, Akagi Takenori the former captain and the former vice-captain, Kogure Kiminobu.  Haruko had just introduced Tsuki to the two seniors before they reached the gym, and the two older boys were impressed with what Haruko had told them about Tsuki.  As they walked into the gym, they said:  "Konichiwa minna."

Everyone turned to look at them.  "Konichiwa."

"Akagi sempai, Kogure sempai!  How come you two are here?"  Ayako asked.

"Just here to see how's practice going."  Kogure smiled.

"Ho.  Ho.. Ho.  Akagi kondachi, Kogure kondachi.  Nice to see you both."  Said Anzai sensei who was standing behind both seniors.

They quickly moved aside and let the coach in, and bowed.  "Konichiwa sensei."

Anzai sensei patted them both on the back.  "Since the two of you are back, why don't you join us for practice and we can have a game later?"

"We'd be glad to sensei."  Replied Akagi.

"Nyhahahahaha!  Look who's here!  It's no other than the Gori himself and Megane kun!"  Sakuragi shouted.

The next thing everyone heard was:  "ITAI!!"  For Sakuragi's been Gori punched, and everyone sweat-dropped in chibi forms.

"Do-aho."  The Rukawa trademark.

"Teme kitsune!"  The Sakuragi to Rukawa trademark.

Yeaps…the Shohoku team is definitely back to "normal"!  (Oh joy!  *Roll eyes*)

Just when Sakuragi's about to launch for Rukawa and start another one of their stupid fights, he spotted Tsuki with the corner of his eyes and stopped in his tracks.

"Oi Yasuda, who's that girl?"  Sakuragi asked the person he saw standing close by, which is Yasuda.

"Her name's Fujima Tsuki, the new vice-captain next to Rukawa."

"Nani?!"  Sakuragi stomped over to where Tsuki and the others are standing, and started "pulling" their coach's chubby face (as usual).  "Oyaji!  How can you do this?  The tensai should be the vice-captain, not some…some girl from no where!"

"Sa…ku…ra…gi…kon…da…chi…"  Before Anzai sensei can finish what he wants to say amidst Sakuragi's chin pulling, he was suddenly let go of, and almost fell to the ground if not for Ayako and Haruko who were standing nearby to hold on to him just in the nick of time.

Storming over to Tsuki, Sakuragi pulled out his fly-squishing frown:  "Oi, how dare you steal the vice-captain position from the tensai, you neko!"

Rukawa was still expressionless (no prize for guessing that) after hearing Tsuki's to be the vice-captain alongside him.

Tsuki sweat-dropped.  "Excuse me, 'neko' (cat in Japanese)?"  She asked Sakuragi.

"Itai!!!"  Sakuragi yelped as he's Gori punched again.  "What did you do that for Gori?"

"Shut up Sakuragi!"  Akagi was fuming.

"Do-Aho."  Rukawa let out a mushroom breath.

"Teme kitsune!"  Sakuragi started stomping towards Rukawa.

"Sakuragi-kun."

Sakuragi stopped dead in his tracks, and turned around to face Haruko puppy-faced.  This trick works wonders every time, and of cause, everyone sweat-dropped.

"Ha…Haruko-san."  Sakuragi was now redder than a tomato.

"Sakuragi-kun," Haruko smiling at Sakuragi ever so sweetly, "Let me introduce you to Tsuki-chan."

Haruko turned around and pull Tsuki over to where she is.  "Sakuragi-kun, this is Fujima Tsuki-san.  She just came back to Japan from America, please be nice to her."  Haruko said softly, which melted all of Sakuragi's tempers.

"Tsuki-chan, this is Sakuragi Hanamichi-kun who plays center position for our team."

Tsuki held out her hand to Sakuragi, sweat-dropping at the same time trying to hold a smile on her face.  "Nice to meet you Sakuragi-kun."

At the other side of the court, upon hearing that Tsuki just returned from America, Rukawa raised an eyelid, but it was gone in an instant, too fast for anyone to noticed that little change in his expression.

Rukawa thought:  America huh?

Tsuki thoughts at that moment:  Hope he's not gonna squash my hand.

To her surprised, Sakuragi took her hand civilly and shook it.  He then smiled politely at Tsuki, "Nice to meet you too, neko-chan."

Everyone on scene fell to the ground anime style, except for Rukawa who rolled his eyes and muttered "Do-Aho" under his breath.

Finally regaining their composures, Tsuki asked Sakuragi, "Ne Sakuragi-kun, why do you insist on calling me 'neko'?"

Sakuragi shrugged, "Ano…you look like one?"

Tsuki was dumbfounded by that, since never has she met anyone who'd call her a cat, less to say said she looked like one.

Ayako came over to the pair and smacked Sakuragi with her paper fan.

"Itai!  What you do that for, Ayako-chan?"  Sakuragi all teary eyed, putting on his I'm-innocent-what-did-I-do-to-deserve-this look.

Ayako simply ignored him.  "Tsuki-chan, ignore this idiot.  He has a nick name for everyone here anyways.  No, make that he's got a nick name for every bball player in the prefecture."

Tsuki then started laughing softly.  Looking down at the t-shirt she's wearing that day, it had a few cats printed on it, Persian Blues to be precise, which were her favorites.

"Sakuragi-kun, you're one amusing person."  Tsuki said that with a pleasant smile.

That statement of Tsuki took everyone by surprised.  No one has ever commented Sakuragi's foolish acts as amusing before … …

"Ahem."  Miyagi brought everyone back down to earth.  "Let's start on the warm-ups now people!"

"Hai!"  Everyone answered spirited in unison.  "Fight!  Shohoku, Fight!"

The team started on their usual round-the-courts jog and general stretches.

Ayako stood watching the team on court side and thought:  I guess Tsuki's just one amazing girl, and she's definitely going to stir up sparks soon, very soon.

Upon finishing the warm up routines, Miyagi finally got Rukawa over and introduced him to Tsuki.  He simply nodded in gesture of acknowledgements.

"A cool guy huh?"  Tsuki mumbled.

"Don't mind him Fujima, that's how Rukawa faces everyone."  Miyagi said after Rukawa went off to get a ball out of the racks.

Tsuki just shrugged and thought:  You sure don't see a walking ice block everyday.

"OK, assemble please minna san!"  Miyagi shouted, and everyone gathered around him.  "Now, we're going to have a game.  Seniors versus juniors.  Akagi sempai and Kogure sempai will be playing, so the senior team members are Akagi sempai, Kogure sempai, Mitsui, Kakuta, and myself.  Junior team members are Sakuragi, Rukawa, Fujima, Ishii, and Sasaoka."

After naming the teams, everyone grabbed their team color bibs and moved into positions.  The position pairings were:

_Position 1 (Guard) – Miyagi Ryota (168cm) vs. Fujima Tsuki (170cm)_

_Position 2 (Point Guard) – Mitsui Hisashi (184cm) vs. Sasaoka Satoru (171cm)_

_Position 3 (Small Forward) – Kogure Kiminobu (178cm) vs. Ishii Kentarou (170cm)_

_Position 4 (Power Forward) – Kakuta Satoru (180cm) vs. Rukawa Kaede (188cm)_

_Position 5 (Center) – Akagi Takenori (193cm) vs. Sakuragi Hanamichi (189.2cm)_

(Really bad pairings…yucks~  X_x)

Referees were Yasuda and Kuwata.

With the sound of the whistle, the game began.  At jumping for the ball, Sakuragi definitely had the advantage with his ability to jump higher than Akagi.  But, as usual, Sakuragi swatted to ball to the position where no one's standing at (sweat-dropped).  Fortunately, Tsuki's eyes were following Sakuragi's moves, so she's able to sprint to the direction the ball was headed.  Just as she jumped to get the ball, she almost bumped into Rukawa, who also was trying to get the ball.

Seeing Rukawa at that spot, Tsuki decided she should hold back for the moment and observe the play first before she starts her attacks since they've got new players today.  So she let Rukawa have possession of the ball, and 'strolled' to face Miyagi.

Miyagi grinned at Tsuki.  "This is where the REAL GAME begins."

Sensing the challenge in Miyagi's tone, Tsuki smiled back.  "We'll see."

Throughout the first half, Tsuki didn't do anything that showed her skills.  She went about leisurely and guarded Miyagi just like any normal guard would be doing.  However, unknown to the other players on court, Miyagi was having a heck of a time trying to get pass Tsuki's defenses throughout the first half.  Also, he wondered why Tsuki didn't attack when she had the chance to, she always passed the ball to her teammates when the ball came into her hands.  This was just weird.  So, the first half came and went, with the game in favor of the seniors at 23 – 17.  Rukawa and Sakuragi were the ones who scored, and Tsuki didn't score anything since she didn't even attempt to shoot.

Rukawa and Sakuragi both had the same thoughts:  Doesn't look like she's a good player, so why the hell is she a vice-captain!?

Ayako walked over to Tsuki, "Tsuki-chan, how come you …"

Before Ayako can finish what she wanted to say to Tsuki, Tsuki smiled and said:  "Don't worry Ayako sempai, the second half is where the game really starts."

Ayako was left speechless after hearing that.

A mischievous grin hanged onto Tsuki's face as she walked back onto the court for the second half of the game, which made her looked like a sly cat.  She walked over to where Miyagi's standing and said with the grin, "Now the real game begins Miyagi sempai."

"Huh?"  Miyagi was confused by Tsuki.  "What do you mean?"

"You'll see sempai."

As the ball was tossed into the air, both Akagi and Sakuragi jumped for it again.  This time Tsuki wasted no time and gained possession of the ball.  Miyagi ran over to guard her, but she's too fast.  Before Miyagi can put on his defenses, Tsuki had moved pass him.  Tsuki attacked the seniors' defenses aggressively, taking them all by surprise.  Mitsui was fast to react and rushed over to block Tsuki, but she managed to elude Mitsui at the blink of the eyes.  Before anyone know it, Tsuki's already within shooting range of the seniors' basket, and she made a fade-away three pointer as Kogure jumped to block her shot.  The shot went in and everyone was stunned, extremely stunned with all of them jaw-dropping, except for Rukawa (as usual).

Tsuki turned to face everyone, and directed a question at Miyagi.  "So, what do you think of that Miyagi sempai?"

Miyagi returned her with a big grin.  "Smooth, Fujima."  He gave her a Hi-5.

Tsuki returned the Hi-5 and smiled brightly.

At the signal of Anzai sensei, Yasuda blew the whistle.  That brought everyone out of their stunned state, and closed their mouths.

"OK, let's continue the game."  Akagi said loudly with a couple of claps of his hand.

Everyone resumed position and began to play again.

In this second half, Tsuki showed the skills she was holding back in the first half.  By doing so, the seniors lost their lead in the brink of time, whilst the juniors gained lead and held it.  Miyagi found it almost impossible to break through Tsuki's defenses.  Tsuki however was able to elude Miyagi and everyone else who tried to block her advancing towards the basket or blocking her shots.

Blocking Rukawa was no longer the main agenda of the seniors, because they now have to not only deal with Rukawa the super rookie, but also Tsuki since she's the one who start the juniors' attack strategies (the duty of position 1).  In no time, the seniors' defenses practically crumbled to nothing.  Even the Ishii and Sasaoka managed to score at this point.

In the last minute of the game, Kogure, Mitsui and Miyagi made a last attempt to stop Tsuki.  But with the game as it was, 68 – 53, in favor of the juniors, Tsuki held back her attacks.  She began stalling.  Just before the timer sounded, she passed the ball to Rukawa who made a shot just in the nick of time.  The score is now 70 – 53, and there's less than 30 seconds left.  Miyagi passed the ball to Mitsui quickly, hoping he shoot a three pointer.  Mitsui did manage the three point shot, but the seniors still lose by 14 points.

After the whistle went off, Sakuragi jogged over to Tsuki and slapped her friendlily on the back, at which she coughed.  "You're great neko-chan."

"Err…thanks Sakuragi-kun.  But, can you use less force on my back next time?"  Tsuki said with a lop-sided smile.

Sakuragi just grinned more widely at her.

"Do-Aho."  Remarked Rukawa as he walked pass them.

Akagi and Kogure, together with Miyagi and Mitsui walked over to where Sakuragi and Tsuki were.

"Tsuki-san, you're a really good player.  Those moves you made were incredible."  Exclaimed Kogure.

"Yeah, think she's even more skilled than Rukawa."  Mitsui added.

(Rukawa wasn't around to hear that, so Mitsui wasn't frozen by Rukawa's icy glares…hehehe…)

Tsuki smiled politely.  "Thank you for your comments sempai.  But, I don't think I deserve any praises, since it was teamwork which brought us victory."

The seniors laughed softly.

"You don't have to be so modest, Tsuki-san.  You are truly a great player."  Akagi commented.

Tsuki remained smiling and did not comment further.

"Nyhahahahaha!  Neko-chan is a good player, but she's never gonna be as good as the tensai.  Nyahahahaha!"  Here goes Sakuragi's boasting again.

Everyone sweat-dropped.

"Do-Aho."  Rukawa muttered from the other side as he's drinking.

"Teme kitsune!  I heard that!"  Sakuragi turned and screamed at Rukawa.

"Do-Aho."

"Kitsune!"

At that, Sakuragi and Rukawa started one of the senseless bickering again.  Everyone let out a mushroom breath, and ignored the two.

Anzai sensei went over to where the seniors and Tsuki were standing.  "Ho.  Ho.  Ho.  You did very well today, Fujima kondachi."

Tsuki bowed, "Arigatou sensei."

Anzai sensei nodded, and called the group together.

"Minna san, that was a good game you played.  Keep up the good work and you will improve further.  That will be all for today.  We'll meet back here for practice tomorrow at the same time.  Dismissed."  Anzai sensei ended the practice with words of encouragement to all the players present.

Before Tsuki left for the lockers, she went to Anzai sensei.

"Sumimasen sensei, I'm sorry that I won't be able to attend practice for the rest of the week.  I still have some matters which I have to take care of in Tokyo before school starts next week.  Therefore, can I please be excused from practice till the term begins?"  Tsuki asked most politely.

"Of course you may, Fujima kondachi.  I will see you next Monday after school at 4:15pm here for practice then."  Anzai sensei replied kindly.

"Domo arigatou gosaimasu sensei."  Tsuki bowed respectfully to Anzai sensei and turned to leave.  "Ja ne minna san."

"Ja."  Replied the others at different time intervals.

"We had a block of ice and a crackling fire in the team, and they were damn troublesome.  Now add on a cat.  I wonder what sort of mischief these three are going to conjure up.  Tsuki sure don't look like a person who's going to take things as they're thrown at her."  Ayako mumbled under her breath after Tsuki left.

Ayako contemplates the future of the team as she watched the squabbling that's going on between Sakuragi and Rukawa.  She sighed a mushroom breath and shrugged.

"Whatever, at least we've got ourselves another strong player …"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------akane's tea house:

I know, I know…this chapter's really yucky.  But I guess I just had to do this to emphasize how good Tsuki is at bball (I do admit that I love Tsuki, since I created her…hehehe).  So, I'm really sorry that I've been bragging a lot here.  *akane bows to everyone apologetically*

Anyways…what are you thoughts on this so far?  Hmm……

Ciao then… 81~ J

P/S:  This chapter's written in the wee hours of the morning, a time when akane's suppose to be asleep!  That's why it's so icky and unedited. X_x  Anyways…oyasumi minna san.


	4. Racing, A Forsaken Dream

**Chapter 4 - Racing…A Forsaken Dream**

"You're back from Tokyo already!?  How fast were you driving?"  Kenji gawked at Tsuki, who's entering the house with a definite tired look.

Tsuki slumped herself into the sofa next to Kenji and curled up like a kitten hugging a rest pillow.

"I'm so tired!"  Tsuki mumbled with her face crashed into the pillow.

Kenji poked her on the arm.  "Oi oi, didn't you hear what I said just now?"

Tsuki turned to face her cousin lazily.

"Hmm?"

"How come you're back so early?  I thought you're supposed to be back tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.  But most of all, how fast were you driving?"

"Oh, that."  Tsuki sat up and shrugged.  "Think the speed was about 180kmh or so.  Why?"

Kenji's eyes bulged in disbelieve.  "What!?  180!?  And you didn't get speed-trapped!?"

Tsuki looked at her cousin strangely.  "No.  There weren't any police around.  Besides, I don't think the police will be able to catch up with me anyways."

She stood up and stepped towards the stairs.  "I'm going to sleep now, I'm so damn tired!  Oyasumi."

She's out of sight before Kenji can reply oyasumi to her.

Kenji sighed, "Guess she's still a racer even after she vowed not to participate in racing competitions anymore."

{         {         {         {         {

A fresh Monday morning, and it's the first day of the new school term.

"Damn, why do the Japanese like their school uniform's skirts so short?"

Tsuki standing in front of her dressing mirror cursing and she attempted for the nth time to pull her skirt further down, as if by doing so the skirt will lengthen itself.

Finally giving up, she took her school bag and sports bag from her desk, and went downstairs for breakfast.

"Ohayo Tsuki."  Said her uncle who just put down his newspaper and saw her walking into the dining room.

"Ohayo Uncle Shiuichi, Aunt Kazumi."  She sat down next to her aunt and put her bag next to her chair.

One of the maids immediately brought Tsuki her breakfast after she was seated.  She smiled at the maid saying thank you.

"Tsuki-chan, you must be excited for it is the first day of school for you.  And you do look so cute in your uniform."  Kazumi said merrily.

Finished chewing on the bit of sausage she had in her mouth, she smiled at Kazumi.  "It's nothing really, and I'm actually not that fond of this uniform.  The skirt's a tat bit too short."

Kazumi looked at her husband then back to Tsuki.  "But you look so cute in your uniform."  Shiuichi nodded at his wife's comment.

Tsuki shrugged and mumbled.  "Cute isn't the word.  It's more like stupid."

"What was that dear?"  Kazumi thought she heard Tsuki said something.

Tsuki quickly shook her head.  "Iie, betsuni."

She quickly finished her breakfast and dashed for the door before her aunt can continue rambling about her uniform or whatever else shouting itekimasu.

Kenji just came down the stairs and saw Tsuki putting on her shoes.  "Tsuki-chan, you going to school already?"

Tsuki turned around and nodded.  "I still don't know which class I'm allocated to, so I need to go early and do some hunting around for my class."

Kenji laughed.  "Okay, you have fun at school then."

"Ja ne."

"Ja."

Tsuki stuffed her bags into the trunk and hopped into her car then drove off in the direction of Shohoku.

{         {         {         {         {

A chrome Skyline crept into the grounds of Shohoku High School turning the heads of students and staffs.  When the car was parked, a girl with almost waist length brown hair stepped out from it.  She went around to the trunk and took out her bags.  Upon closing the trunk, she switched on the security system of the car with the remote hanging from the keychain she was holding.  As she looked up at the school buildings, the sunlight bounced off her CK sunglasses.  Just as she took the first step towards the main entrance of the school building, she heard someone calling out to her from behind.  Turning around, she saw Haruko running towards her with another two girls following.

Tsuki smiled and waited before Haruko caught her breath and said, "Ohayo Haruko-chan."

"Ohayo Tsuki-chan."  Looking up, Haruko saw Tsuki with her hair down for the first time, and gaped with rounded eyes.  "Wow, your hair is so long."

Tsuki laughed, and pull some stray strands of her hair behind her ear.  "You look so cute like that Haruko-chan."

Haruko blushed.  "You're not gonna start teasing me like Ayako-sempai, are you?"

Tsuki just laughed at that.  'What do you think?"  She said grinning.

Haruko held a hand up to her forehead and sighed dramatically, as if she's going to faint.  "Oh, not you too …"

Tsuki really laughed out loud to that gesture of hers.  Haruko also joined Tsuki in that little laughing spree.  They finally stopped laughing when the two girls who came together or rather chasing after Haruko arrived in front of them.

"Haruko-chan, why didn't you wait for us?"  Fujii, one of Haruko's friends asked catching her breath.

Haruko smiled apologetically at her two friends and introduced them to Tsuki.  "This is Fujii and this is Matsui.  They are both good friends of mine.  And guys, this is Fujima Tsuki, the girl I've told you guys about before."

Tsuki bowed at the two girls.  "Nice to meet you.  Yoroshiku."

Fujii and Matsui returned bows.  "Nice to meet you too Tsuki-san.  Yoroshiku."

After the introduction, the four girls entered the school building and headed for the second year section.  Upon reaching their destination, they stood before the general notice board searching for their names to see which class they have been allocated to.  Haruko, Fujii and Matsui ended in the same class again for the year in class 2 – 2, whilst Tsuki is allocated to class 2 – 7.  The girls then walked to their respective classrooms together, chatting on the way.  The bell soon rang, and they said their goodbyes, promised to meet up for lunch in the cafeteria.

Tsuki finally found her home room after going through a couple of twists and turns along the corridor.  She met up with her form teacher just before entering the classroom.  After introducing herself to her teacher, they walked into the classroom together.

"Ahem!  Settle down please everyone.  You all should know that I'm Koike sensei (a lot of groaning was heard as he spoke…hehe…), and I'll be your form teacher for this year."  Koike sensei spoke monotonously.  "Before we start the form session today, I'd like to introduce to you all a new student who has just transferred back to Japan from America."  He motioned Tsuki to come forward.

Tsuki bowed to the class.  "Watashi wa Fujima Tsuki desu.  Yoroshiku."

Once Tsuki has straightened herself from the bow, oohs and ahs can be heard all around.  All the male students were thrilled that they've got a pretty girl in their class, while the female students shot dagger glares at Tsuki in jealousy.

Tsuki glanced around the class and noticed a few familiar faces.  These were all members of the basketball teams.  She can see Sakuragi waving at her frantically saying hi, to which she smiled back in acknowledgement.  At the same time, she was not sure if that certain boy with raven hair slumping on his desk is Rukawa.  She also spotted Kuwata, who was sitting in the second row seat by the window.

A boy suddenly shouted out, "Do you have any special interests or hobbies, Fujima-san?"

Tsuki politely returned, "Nothing special actually, but I do play quite a lot of sports."

"Which sports then?"  Someone else asked.

"Namely basketball, volley ball and athletics."

Before anyone else started to ask Tsuki some more questions, Koike sensei interjected.  "I think that's enough for now.  You all can get to know Fujima-san later on during recess."  He paused for a little while and scanned the room.  When he saw the raven haired boy who was slumping on his desk, a nerve floated to view on his temple immediately.  "Fujima, you can go sit next to Rukawa, since that's the only empty seat available."

"Hai sensei."  Tsuki walked towards the last seat along of windows, and seated herself next to Rukawa, who was sleeping (as always).  As she walked, all the females gave her a super large dose of glare daggers.  But Tsuki ignored all of them, which fumed the girls even more.

Tsuki thought as she was walking:  So, it is Rukawa after all.

After Tsuki was seated, Koike sensei began to write out the term's timetable on the blackboard for everyone to copy.  Reading all the hiragana and kanji on the board, Tsuki decided that she'd better copy everything down in English, since it's faster that way (which I totally agree as well…hehe… :P) 

When she finished copying, she noticed that Rukawa was still sleeping.  So she thought she'd copy the timetable for him as well, for a classmate/teammate's sake.  She finally finished copying Rukawa's share of the timetable after ten long minutes of hiragana writing (remember, she grew up in the states!  So, she's allowed to be slow at writing hiragana~).  She even drew a little cat down at one corner with a word bubble saying: 'Hey, don't sleep so much in class.  Neko here don't wanna copy your notes for you as well! :P'  With that done, she slipped the timetable card under Rukawa's left arm, on which he was sleeping on.

The first bell soon rang, ending the first period.  Since it's the first day of school, all the classes were really slow and mostly involved in telling the students what the teachers expect of them and the curriculum of each subject.

The beautiful music of the class bell soon rang again for the forth time that morning signally recess.  With a miracle, Rukawa woke up upon the bell and sat up.

Tsuki was quite startled by his waking, since she's almost dozed off due to boredom.

"Aa.  Ohayou Rukawa-kun."

Rukawa looked at Tsuki expressionless as usual.  But when he saw that timetable card on his desk, he frowned slightly.

Tsuki saw his frown, she shrugged and smiled.  "Just a little friendly reminder, no harm intended."

Rukawa remained expressionless, until Sakuragi jumped over to their desks.  "Do'aho."

"TEME kitsune!"  Sakuragi reached over to grab Rukawa's collar, but was stopped by Yohei.

"Hanamichi!  You're in the classroom, don't start a fight here for goodness sake!"  Youhei grasped at Sakuragi.

Tsuki just looked at them stupefied, and thought to herself:  Can they start a fight anywhere, anytime?  And with such a small trigger?  Gees…

"Anyways,"  Sakuragi shook off Youhei's hand, "Neko-chan, how come you didn't come to practice the last few days?"

"Oh,  I had to go to Tokyo to take care of some stuff before."  Tsuki replied with a smile.

"Tokyo huh?"  Sakuragi said with a thought.  "Ano, what kind of stuff?"

"Hanamichi, don't you think you're a bit too nosey?"  Youhei asked his best friend in disbelieve.

"It's ok, it's just some things to do with the properties my parents bought in Tokyo."

"Wow, your parents have properties in Tokyo!?"  Sakuragi asked wide-eyed.  "You must be a rich neko!"

Tsuki laughed to his statement.  She then turned to Youhei, "I believe we haven't in introduced yet.  Watashi wa Fujima Tsuki desu, kimio wa?"

"Aa.  Watashi wa Mito Youhei, just call me Youhei."  Youhei replied.

Tsuki nodded, and with a small sly smile curled up her lips.  "So, you must be a member of the infamous Sakuragi Gundan that I've heard quite a bit about from Haruko-chan, huh?"

Youhei laughed.  "We're not infamous, but guess we are known for our good fighting techniques."

Sakuragi looked from Tsuki to Youhei and back.  "How come you two are so friendly to each other suddenly?"  He looked at Youhei again, and a smiled widely.  "Must be because Youhei likes Neko-chan!  Nyhahahahahaha…"

Everyone sweat-dropped, including the soon-to-doze-off Rukawa.  Youhei blushed  furiously and shouted back at Sakuragi, "Hanamichi you baka!  It's not that!"  And added a shoe print to Sakuragi's bottoms (hehehe… :P)

Tsuki just laughed.  Instead of blushing like any normal girl would be when they're teased about guys, Tsuki just laughed and her facial colors were as normal as they can be.  "Sakuragi-kun, you're so comical sometimes."

"Yeah, like a clown."  Rukawa spoke out of everyone's surprise.

"TEME kitsune!"  Sakuragi was going to launch to Rukawa again just as the bell rang signaling the start of the next class, so he refrained from doing so.  For class 2 – 7, it's PE.  So everyone rushed off to the locker rooms to change into their PE gear.

Just as the students were changing, the PE teachers announced over the PA system that their PE class was to be held in the gym, since it started raining.  Soon, everyone gathered into the gym.  The female students were led to one end of the gym by Kanzaki sensei, and the males the other by Ishino sensei.

After going through the name list, everyone was asked to do some stretches to begin with, and they play volley ball for the session.  A few retorts were heard from the male students about wanting to play basketball instead, but Ishino sensei rejected the idea because the presence of the few bball club members in the group were enough to tip the game one-sided, so the guys ended up playing volley ball too, much to Sakuragi and Rukawa's annoyance.

The two-period class went on for about one and a half hours.  Tsuki's display of skills in volley ball rendered her invited to join the school's volley team by the team's members in her class, but she declined since she's already in the bball team.  All the girls' in her class was rather surprised when she told them that she's already invited to join the bball team and as their vice-captain, especially for the Rukawa shinitai, who just happened to be in the same class as her, and had been dagger-glaring her ever since she sat down next to Rukawa that morning.  Kanzaki sensei on the other hand was very pleased with Tsuki's performance in the class (like who wouldn't? :P hehe…).

The rest of the day went on boringly, and she found out that since she's seated next to Rukawa in home room, she was to sit next to him for all her other classes that were located in other classrooms, chemistry for example.  Also, Rukawa will be all her projects and assignments partner for the rest of the year.  The only reaction she had for this news was: sigh, sigh, sigh and more sighs.

Tsuki thought to herself when walking to the locker rooms to change for bball practice:  Just great!  I'm paired up with a guy who's always asleep in class for all the important school work, why is this happening to me???  Looks like I'll have to do all the work, and Mr. Ice-Block on the other hand don't have to do anything but just sit there and get good grades.  Gees…

Tsuki ended her trail of thoughts with more sighs.  But she noticed something else, even though Rukawa slept through all the classes, he knew when to give up and what class to go to!  This was rather mind boggling.

{         {         {         {         {

"Konichiwa minna san."  Greeted Tsuki and Haruko, whom she walked into as she was coming to the gym.

"Konichiwa."  Replied the few members of the club who're in the gym.

Tsuki walked to a corner to put down her towel and water bottle, then put on her shoes.  She was going to take a ball out of the rack when she heard Miyagi calling everyone to gather up.

"Try-outs for the freshmen will be held next Monday afternoon, so I want everyone to get here on time to meet all the new comers.  Okay then let's start today's practice."

On conclusion of Miyagi's short, very short speech, everyone huddled into a small circle and shouted:  "Fight!  Shohoku Fight!"

They dispersed into smaller groups to carry on with the day's training.  Just like in the practice session Tsuki joined before, she watched every member of her group carefully in order to pick up flaws in their techniques.  It was almost six thirty in the evening when they finished practice.  Just as she was going to exit the gym, she was approached by Rukawa.

"Nani shiterunda, Rukawa-kun?"  Tsuki asked as she looked up at the raven-haired boy.

Rukawa held up a ball to Tsuki, expressionless.  "One on one?"

Tsuki raised an eyebrow in curiosity:  Wonder why he's asking for a game…

Tsuki then smiled.  "Okay.  Let's go."

The pair walked to one end of the court and started their game.  Everyone else, other than Sakuragi and Ishii who were assigned to cleaning up for the day had left, rushing home in rain that hadn't stopped since that morning.

"First one to fifteen points wins."  Rukawa said in monotone.

Tsuki nodded.  "Who's playing defense first?"

Rukawa shrugged and passed her the ball, suggesting Tsuki to attack first.  Tsuki obliged and just as she was to begin dribbling, a red-haired monkey stomped over and took the ball from Tsuki.

"I'll play the one on one with you kitsune."  Sakuragi yelled.

"Do'aho, get out of the way!"  Rukawa 'swatted' Sakuragi off the court (anime style of cause) and turned back to Tsuki, "Ignore the do'aho, let's start."

Tsuki who was rather entertained by that 'swatting event' was trying to hold back her laugh strenuously blurted, "Ok…hehe…hehe…"

"TEME KITSUNE!!  How dare you do that to the tensai …"

Tsuki and Rukawa ignored Sakuragi completely and began to play.

Not surprising, Rukawa was good.  But Tsuki still managed to elude him effortlessly and scored a perfect three pointer to begin with.  As the game progressed, Rukawa was definitely on the losing end, and he tried even harder to regain lost points, but it was to no avail.

The game finally ended half an hour later, with Tsuki as the winner 16 – 10.

"Good game, Rukawa-kun."  Tsuki smiled at Rukawa who was toweling off this perspiration.  

Suddenly, "Nyhahahahahahahahaha."  Sakuragi was laughing his wits off holding the mop.

Tsuki, Rukawa and Ishii sweat-dropped and stared at Sakuragi.

"The kitsune lost to the neko! Nyhahahahahahahaha."

"Do'aho."  Rukawa blurted, and both Tsuki and Ishii nodded in agreement with Rukawa.

A clap of thunder was heard above their heads, and it sent shivers down Tsuki's spine.  She never liked storms, they're just too depressing.

"Anyways, you guys want me to give you a lift home?  The rain is definitely not going to stop any time soon."  Tsuki offered.

"Yeah, that'd be great.  Arigatou gosaimasu Fujima-san."  Ishii replied politely.

Sakuragi nodded his head energetically like a dribbled bball, whilst Rukawa just shrugged.

Tsuki picked up her towel and water bottle.  "K then, I'll see you guys out front?"

"Sure."  Then they headed to separate locker rooms.

{         {         {         {         {

Tsuki dashed over to her car in the rain and jumped into the driver seat.  She stuffed her bags in between the two bucket seats in the back, then started the engine and moved her car out of the parking lot to the main entrance of the school.

She sat in her car and waited for a while for the guys to come out.  She switched on the CD player in her car and the beats of Super EuroBeat's music started pumping out from the speakers.  She tapped her fingers to the beat of the songs and sang along too.  It's one of her favorite tracks, Don't You (Forget About My Love) by SOPHIE.

_In the garden of my heart_

_            I see my lonely moon_

_            The flower's love is blooming in this night of passion_

_Deep inside in to my mind_

_            A dream of you so kind_

_            A flavour full of special love and soul_

_            Honey babe_

_            Love is forever!  Sweet sensation_

_            You make me crazy with your passion_

_            Don't forget my love_

_            Everlasting heart and soul_

_            Don't you forget about my love_

_            Please don't forget my passion babe_

_            Don't you forget about my love_

_            Take all my life and soul …_

Just as the song was entering the second chorus, she saw the three boys stepped out of the main entrance and dashed to her car.

Tsuki giggled as she saw the Ishii trying frantically to slide the front passenger bucket seat forward so they can get to the back seats.

"Ishii-kun, just lift that longer lever."

Ishii did as told, "Aa."

"Get in quickly guys, I don't want you guys ruining the leather of my seats with rain."  Tsuki teased.

Rukawa and Sakuragi got into the back seats, trying very hard to adjust themselves into the two seats with some difficultly due to their long legs, whilst Ishii sat in the front passenger seat.

Tsuki turned down the volume of the music and asked Ishii to show her the direction of his house, since she had no idea where any of her teammates lived and worse still, she's still not familiar with the local infrastructure.  Ishii pointed in a direction and gave a few more directions to where his house is.  Tsuki nodded and they drove out of the school ground.

After dropping Ishii off at his house, she asked Sakuragi and Rukawa about where their houses were located.  To her surprise, Rukawa's house was rather near the Fujima's, so she decided to drop off Sakuragi first then Rukawa.

Surprisingly, Sakuragi and Rukawa didn't attempt for each other's throats when they sat next to each other in Tsuki car, to much of Tsuki's relieve, and Rukawa's actually not asleep!

On the way to the Sakuragi residence, Tsuki noticed that her car's fuel gauge is showing the fuel content below the three quarters mark.  She thought to herself:  Gees…this car is really a fuel guzzler, since I'm not racing anymore, maybe I should have its power tuned down a bit.  Then again…nah…

So she asked Rukawa if he minded if she drops by the fuel station to fill up her car before taking him home.  Rukawa nodded, and off they went to a near-by fuel station.

Rolling down the window, Tsuki smiled at the station attendant and said, "A full tank of premium please."

The attendant who was obviously drooling over the Skyline nodded and went hurriedly to fill the tank.  Two other attendants came over to check the tire pressure and cleaned the windscreens and windows.

Tsuki turned around to Rukawa, "Ne Rukawa-kun, why don't you move over to the front seat?  It'll be easier for you to get out later."

Rukawa nodded and started shifting out of his seat to move into the front seat.  Meanwhile, Tsuki decided to go into the shop-office of the fuel station to look for some new motor magazines.  She came back to the car holding four copies of the latest mags.  The attendant who was filling the fuel then came over and told her the amount she owed.  She pulled out a few thousand yen bills and paid for the fuel.

Just as she was about to get into the car, a guy attired with the station's uniform came over and stopped her in her tracks.

"Nice car miss."  He smiled, showing his perfect white teeth.  "N1s aren't that common around these parts.  You race?"

Tsuki was rather startled by him.  She tried to scan the guy's appearance and concluded that the guy's a street racer.

"Nope, I don't race in street races or professional competitions anymore."  Tsuki decided to be honest about her current 'race situation'.

The guy raised an eyebrow in astonishment.  "So, you are a racer then?"  He grinned.

"Not anymore.  And you can forget about asking me to race with you."  Tsuki said bluntly and quite defensively.

The guy just laughed.  "Hey, ease off.  I'm not asking you to race with me.  But it sure is a pity though, a nice car like this should be roaring down the course, not just be a normal everyday street car."

Tsuki shrugged.

"By the way, watashi wa Akida Hiroshi.  I'm the leader of one of the street racing teams in Kanagawa, the Strikers.  In fact, we're the fastest in this prefecture."  Akida said with a confident grin.

Tsuki raised her brows, "And I'm supposed to be delighted knowing this?"

Akida laughed.  "You're sure not a girl that's easy to impress."

Tsuki shrugged again.

"See that car there, it's mine."  Akida pointing to a white sports car parked perfectly on the far side of the station.

Tsuki looked at the car.  "A SW20, nice machine."  (For those of you who aren't acquainted with this term, SW20 is the older version of the Toyota MR2, and racers normally call the cars by their model rather than their trade names.)

"Yeah, my bundle of joy.  So, what's your name anyways?"

"Oh look at the time, I'm late for dinner.  Gotta run, bye."  Tsuki said with a laugh and jumped into her car then drove off, leaving Akida flabbergasted.

Once she drove onto the open street, she mumbled softly, "Looks like that fuel station is to be avoided from now on."

"Why?"  Rukawa suddenly spoke, which gave Tsuki quite a fright.

"Huh?"

"I said, why."

"Ano…why what, Rukawa-kun?"

Rukawa sweat-dropped.  "What you just said."

"Oh that."  Tsuki replied sheepishly, since she didn't realize she'd spoken her mind out loud before.  "Cause of that Akida guy who was speaking to me just now.  Avoiding him will mean no need to get myself mix-up with street racers and I won't be getting myself into any races too."

"What do you mean?  You a car racer?"

(Wow~ our ice block is in an actual conversation!! *grins*)

"Used to be, but not anymore."  Tsuki sighed and continued.  "If that freak accident didn't happen then I wouldn't had come back to Japan, and I'd be in the qualifying rounds of the NASCAR racing now."

Rukawa saw the longing in her blue eyes, which gave him a rather funny feeling inside.  But, he kicked that feeling away immediately.  "Why did you come back to Japan anyways?"

Tsuki glanced at Rukawa and spoke.  "It's a long story.  It all happened so fast …"

She began to tell him about the accident which her parents and her were in, and how she ended up in Japan.

"As for the racing part, I started to learn the racing techniques when I was twelve, cause my father was one of the managers of Nissan's US based racing team.  So, since I was interested in the sport, tou-san let me train with the team.  Everyone was surprised when I was able to handle the cars the first time I sat into one, so that's when I got involved in the training program.  Of course, while tou-san was pleased with this, ka-san was furious.  She totally objects to the idea of me driving in races.  She thinks car racing is too dangerous, and furthermore, I'm a girl, so I'm not supposed to have anything to do with cars.  But, it ended up that I didn't get to drive in a proper race after all."  Tsuki ended with a sad smile.  "I vowed to in front of my parents' grave that I will not go into any car racing competition, may it be professional or non-professional, which are the street races."

"I see."

"Yeaps.  That's why I need to avoid anything or any person associated with any form of car racing.  Cause one, I don't want them to tag behind me and pester me to race with them.  Two, I might not have the wits to keep myself away from a race after being pestered."  Tsuki said with a small frown.

"Hn."  Rukawa responded typically.

Unexpectedly, a cat ran across the road in front of their car as they were about to reach the Rukawa residence.  Tsuki reacted just in the nick of time to avoid hitting the cat by quick reflexes, positioning the Skyline into a drift, which shifted the car sliding around the cat in the opposite direction it was running in.

"Phew…that was close."  Tsuki heaved a sigh.

Rukawa was totally shaken by the experience, as anyone would be, so instead of his usual clueless self, he's wide-eyed and any trace of drowsiness has been lifted from him.  He now stared at Tsuki in disbelief, whilst Tsuki just laughed at his stupefied reaction.  

(I know exactly what Rukawa looked like at that very moment in time, since that happened to my friend when I did a drift accidentally.  She was totally shocked out of her wits and I was laughing myself silly at her, and she said I'm crazy… hahahaha… anyways…back to the fic… :P)

With Rukawa remaining lost for words, Tsuki drove on until they reached the Rukawa manor.  Tsuki waved her left hand in front of Rukawa.  "We're here Rukawa-kun."

"Aa.  Huh?  What?"  Rukawa still hadn't rid himself of the shock.

Tsuki laughed some more.  "We're in front of your house."

Rukawa looked out of the window.  "Oh, yeah."  He grabbed his back and opened the door.

Just before he stepped out of the car, Tsuki said, "Hey, how 'bout I give you a lift to school tomorrow morning since you left your bike back at school?"

Rukawa looked at her and nodded.  "Thanks."

Tsuki smiled, "No problems, see you tomorrow morning at around eight thirty then?"

He nodded again, then got out of the car and disappeared into the grounds of the Rukawa manor.

Tsuki backed her car out of their driveway and headed home.

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_akane's tea house:_

Sorry…long chapter again *sigh*

For anyone who's interested in "drifts", you guys can go and look it up at http://www.geocities.com/go2initiald  Also, some music of Super Euro Beat can be downloaded at this page.

Also, just a little note, in future chapters, I'll be stealing some characters from _Shigeno Shuichi's anime/manga __Initial D (a street-racing story).  So, for those of you who know Initial D, great; but if you don't know about it, then you can read about it at that page listed above._

Okies…think that's enough…cyas~ 


	5. Good News? Bad News?

**Chapter 5 – Good News?  Bad News?**

****

A few weeks passed.

Tsuki had finally settled into her new life in Kanagawa.  She woke up to a bright sunny day, and decided to go browsing at the shopping district.

The crystal reflected rays of the sun caught the corner of her eyes and she walked to that particular shop displaying the crystal figurines immediately, to the love of her life.

Peering through the display window, she saw the new collector's club ornament from _Swarovski.  It was the figure of a clown.  Its head was resting on one of its knees and a drop of tear hanged on the corner of its left eye.  It was a piece of mastery.  The figurine looked as if it was alive, and the sadness in its eyes was so apparent that Tsuki felt a pang in her heart.  She held her hands to her chest tightly, trying to hold back the pain.  There and then she decided to buy that crystal statue, adding it to her precious collection._

Tsuki took a deep breath and walked into the shop asking the saleslady to wrap that figurine for her.  Although it cost her almost forty thousand yen, she still think it was worth it.

Walking out of the shop satisfied, she held up the bag holding the figurine she just bought and smiled contently to herself.

"What are you doing smiling to yourself like that?"  

A voice out of no where startled Tsuki.  She looked up and saw Akida Hiroshi smiling at her.

"Hi."  Tsuki said in a flat tone.

Hiroshi grinned.  "How come I didn't see you at the fuel station again?  Hope you're not avoiding me."

"Me avoiding you?  Why'd I do that?"  Tsuki replied with a half smile.

"Oh, I don't know.  Maybe you're worried that I might ask you to race me?"  He said with a wink.

Tsuki laughed.  "Well…just being cautious."

Hiroshi struck a thinking pose.  "Hmm…does this mean I should hide my driver instincts?  I sure don't want to lose more business."

Tsuki nodded in agreement to Hiroshi statement with continuous laughter, while Hiroshi put a hand to his forehead in gesture of defeat.  To that, Tsuki laughed more.

Tsuki tried really hard to regain composure after her laughing fit with giggles in between.  Hiroshi on the other hand stood there waiting with a helpless expression on his face.

When Tsuki finally managed to control her laughs, she said apologetically, "I'm sorry, but your expression was so funny just now."

"Think I know that."  Hiroshi blurted.  "By the way, you never told me your name, don't you think that's rude of you?"  He added jokingly.

Tsuki grinned and held out a hand.  "Fujima Tsuki.  Nice to make your acquaintance."

Hiroshi shook the hand she held out to him smiling.  "Likewise."

"So, you own that fuel station?"

"Yeah."   Hiroshi paused a little then continued, "Well, I'm one of the partners anyways."

"I see…"  Tsuki took at look at her watch.  "Hey, it's almost lunch time, wanna grab a bite to eat together?"

"Sure.  Iko, I know this nice little restaurant…"  Hiroshi said as they walked towards their cars.

After making a friend out of Hiroshi, Tsuki frequented his petrol station rather regularly, especially since she's got a fuel-guzzler for a car.  Hiroshi never mentioned anything about racing in front of Tsuki, although they chatted about cars whenever they saw each other.  She also acquainted herself with two of the employees at the fuel station, Kido Jun and Tachibana Issei, who were also members of Strikers.  They too know about Tsuki's don't-ask-me-to-race-or-I'll-ignore-you-forever concept, so they also never raised "race conversations" with her.

*          *          *          *          *

Another week has gone by.  Tsuki fell to her knees at practice on this day.  Everyone rushed over to see if she's alright, but she shook her head and assured them that there's nothing wrong with her, that she just needed to rest for a while.

After practice, which Tsuki sat out of after her fall, Rukawa asked to cancel their one on one practice that day.  Tsuki smiled and thanked him for his concerned and consideration of her situation.  For that she offered him a ride home, to which Rukawa obliged.

On the way to Rukawa's house, he asked Tsuki if she's ill.

Tsuki glanced at him and shook her head.  "No, I'm not ill.  Guess I haven't recovered fully from the injuries I received from that car accident back in the States."

"It was really bad huh?"  Rukawa said with his normal monotone.

"If having two broken ribs punching a couple of holes in your lungs aren't bad, then I don't know what the meaning of bad is."  Tsuki replied with a slumped  face.

Rukawa raised an eyebrow at her but didn't say anything.  

(akane:  At least say something comforting to her Rukawa-kun!)

(Rukawa:  …)

(akane threw her hands up in the air.)

(akane:  I give up!!!  *sighs*)

(What can we expect from a block of ice…)

"Speaking of which, I'm actually due for my check-up tomorrow afternoon at the hospital."  Tsuki said when they stopped for the red lights.  She turned to Rukawa, "So, can you tell Miyagi sempai the reason I'll be missing practice tomorrow for me?"

Rukawa expressionless.  "Hn."

Tsuki smiled.  "Thanks Rukawa-kun."

"Hn."

With his continuous 'hn-ing', Tsuki let a laugh escaped from her lips.  When the lights turned green, she shifted into first gear and still giggling.

As Rukawa stepped out of the Nissan muscle car, Tsuki smiled and said, "See you in class tomorrow, Rukawa-kun."

Rukawa, although expressionless as usual nodded in gesture.

After Rukawa got off, Tsuki sped home and rushed to her room before she collapsed into her bed with an audible sigh.  Her chest still felt a little uneasy.  She pushed herself up from her bed and opened the drawer of her bedside table, taking out a small bottle containing some medication for her condition.  She took two small white tablets out of the bottle and hurriedly gulped them down with a mouthful of water.  After a few minutes, she felt the medication kicking in together with the easing of the tightness she felt in her chest earlier.

*          *          *          *          *

Sitting in the office of her specialist, who was also the president of that privately ran hospital.

"Akida sensei, are my lungs healing properly?"  Tsuki asked in a worried tone.

Akida sensei looked at her with much concern written over his kind face.  "Fujima-san, you know you shouldn't be doing any vigorous exercise, of which basketball is one of."

Tsuki lowered her head.  "Hai sensei, I know.  But I can't tear myself away from the sport I love."

"Fujima-san…"  Akida sensei was rendered speechless, yet extremely concerned.

Tsuki looked up at the doctor.  "Sensei, but am I making any progress in the healing path?"

"Yes you are Fujima-san, but your recovery is hindered rather significantly by your sporting activities.  If you hadn't played basketball that much, you would have recovered fully by now.  You are straining your lungs by playing that much basketball, therefore slowing down your recovery."

"Do I have to stop playing basketball completely then sensei?"  Tsuki asked with a hopeful expression.

Akida sensei sighed heavily.  He knew it was impossible to ask Tsuki to give up basketball for now until she had fully recovered from her injuries.

"Fujima-san, I do not want to lie to you.  It is best if you can stop playing basketball for now, for until you have fully recovered.  But I know it is hard for you to do that."

"Sensei, does that mean…"

Akida sensei smiled kindly.  "You can play Fujima-san, but not for long periods of time.  In a competition, you may play for ten minutes.  That is the maximum time span your lungs can sustain for such an active activity.  So, you must not exceed the ten minutes for your lungs are still recuperating.  Do we agree on that?"

Tsuki flashed a bright smile.  "Yes sensei.  I will hold up to my promise to you."

"Good.  I do not want to see you stressing yourself and your lungs again anytime soon."  Akida sensei finally showed a relieved smile.  "Okay then, you may go now.  But remember to take your medications on time to aid the healing and our promise."

Tsuki stood up and bowed sincerely to the grey-haired specialist.  "Hai sensei.  Doumo arigatou."

"Take good care of yourself Fujima-san.  The next time I see you, I want to see your lungs fully healed."

Tsuki nodded.  "Ja ne sensei."

"Ja."

Tsuki stepped out of the doctor's office and headed to the pharmacist's counter to collect the medication prescribed to her.  Whilst she was waiting, she saw Hiroshi walking towards her direction wearing a white coat together with a few other doctors.

Hiroshi saw her and waved.   "Tsuki-chan!"  He walked over to where Tsuki was.  "What are you doing here?"

Tsuki frowned, "Why do you think?"

"Miss Fujima, your medications are ready."  The pharmacist at the counter called out.

Tsuki turned around to collect her prescription, which were snatched by Hiroshi as soon as the pharmacist handed them to her.

Hiroshi inspected the small bottles.  "You've got lung problems?"  He asked in bewilderment.

Tsuki stuck her tongue out at him and grabbed back her medications.  "No big deal, just waiting for the punctures to reseal themselves."

"You mean your lungs were punctured?"  Hiroshi wide-eyed at the information.

Tsuki nodded, "Yeah, from a car accident about four months ago."

"You're recovering properly I hope."

Tsuki nodded again, "Just a bit slow, and Akida sensei just told me that I should cut down the amount of basketball practice I'm having to increase my rate of healing."

"I see.  Then you better listen to my father then."  Hiroshi answered with a smile.

Tsuki let out an I-knew-it smile.  "So, you're a doctor as well huh?  Never thought that doctors can be racers, really haven't seen any around except for you."

Hiroshi shrugged.  "Who cares?"

"True."

They both looked at each other then laughed.

"Hey, I need to get going.  I'll see you around."  Tsuki said.

"Sure thing."  Hiroshi smiled.

Tsuki turned around and headed for the exit.  She quickly got into her car and drove home because she had to report to her Aunt Kazumi about her consultation that day.

Since Tsuki's visit to the hospital, she told Anzai sensei about her situation.  Anzai sensei was very understanding and told her to do as told by the doctor.  Therefore, from that day onwards, Tsuki's time on court was cut down dramatically.  Instead of playing and practicing with the team, she stood aside most of the time, watching the team practice.  During this time she would pick out one or two team members and watch them play carefully, noting down the pros and cons of the member's techniques, which later she will help them correct.

Tsuki also omitted the one on one sessions she used to have with Rukawa after each practice.  Rukawa was also understanding enough to cancel this little agreement of theirs.  But with Tsuki on the sidelines, she also picked up tiny flaws in Rukawa's techniques, which she told him about and help him in correcting them.

Soon, the whole team had improved notably with Tsuki correcting their technical flaws.  Tsuki also introduced the Shohoku basketball team to new training methods, namely those she was subjected to at her old school back in Washington.

Even without their ex-captain and center Akagi Takenori, and ex-point guard Mitsui Hisashi, the Shohoku team was stronger than before by the time the provincial high school basketball season started.

"Let's show them all that we are the strongest.  Not only in the prefecture, but in Japan!"  Miyagi announced the day before the official launch of the provincial summer basketball season.

Everyone replied energetically, "We are the strongest!  Fight Shohoku!  Fight!"

Tsuki stood beside Haruko watching the team shouting out their motto, and smiled proudly for them all.  She knew that although she won't be playing much on court, she was still a not-to-missed person, required to support the team through it all.

"Yes, let the games begin, and we will show them that we are the strongest."  She said softly.

Haruko turned to look at Tsuki and smiled brightly at Tsuki's statement.

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_akane__の__tea house:_

_A lot of ramblings…*sigh*  Guess I'm still trying to build the story…at least that's what I think I'm trying to do  X_x_

_If any of you out there think this is getting boring…sorry~~  cause I'm actually writing this story in between my breaks of writing my thesis, which is a load of pressure sitting on my shoulders.  That's why, if the fic start to drifting off to who knows where, please be patient with it, k?  Thank you so much for putting up with me…   Ciao then~  =^.^=_


	6. Basketballers & Street Racers

**Chapter 6 – Basketballers & Street Racers…**

"You sure you're ok to play in the game?"  Haruko asked Tsuki with a concerned tone before the game.

"Daijoubu Haruko-chan.  I'll be fine.  Akida sensei said I can play, although it's not for long."  Tsuki replied, and stuck her tongue out mischiefly.

"Hey, neko-chan, make sure you don't give the tensai any troubles on court."  Sakuragi said, followed by his infamous laugh.  "Nyahahaha…"

"Do'aho."  Rukawa commented with his eyes closed.

"TEME Kitsune!"  Sakuragi began to charge toward Rukawa.  "Itai!!!"  And he was hit by Ayako's paper fan before he got anywhere.

"Sakuragi, will you stop this meaningless nonsense?"  Ayako snarled at Sakuragi with her arms folded.

"Listen to Aya-cha, Sakuragi."  Said their currently puppy-faced captain, who was standing behind Ayako.

Tsuki, who was supposedly the central character of the quarrel just stood there feeling entertained by her teammates.  A delightful smile clung to her lips, making her already attractive face lit up more.

Tsuki thought cheerfully:  Although these guys are rather problematic in their own ways, they're still my trustworthy teammates.  She smiled to herself.

This was the first game to be played by Shohoku in the prefecture's summer contests.  The game was against Ryofuku High School (everyone do know which school this is right?).

"Okay team, let's go do some warm-ups on court then."  Miyagi said with full confidence, and led everyone onto the court for pre-game warm ups.

Tsuki bounced the ball she held a few times and made a shot that went into the hoop swiftly.  One of the freshmen, Goto Suya picked up the ball she shot and passed it back to her.  She smiled and nodded in a gesture of thank you.  Goto blushed upon seeing her smile.

Standing relatively close to her was the raven-haired boy.  When Rukawa saw Goto blushed, he felt rather unhappy, and he had no idea why he had that sudden surge of emotion.  He frowned.  But he soon released the frown and turned back to his normal aloof self.  This change in expression went about so quickly that no one on court noticed.  However, Haruko saw it and was surprised (who wouldn't be?  *grins evilly*).  Although she had no idea why Rukawa frowned suddenly, she finally confirmed to herself that what she thought was true:  Rukawa's not as cold as he seemed to be, and he isn't the ice king everyone thinks he is, he has emotions, but he just doesn't show them.  Haruko smiled to herself upon learning this.

The team did a few more passes and shots then returned to the benches as the announcer announced that the game was about to start in five minutes.  Tsuki sat down at the bench as soon as she got to the sidelines since she knew she won't be playing as one of the starting five.

Anzai sensei asked everyone to gather around, naming the starting players.

"Today we start with Miyagi, Kakuta, Sakuragi, Rukawa, and Goto kondachi."  He then turned to Tsuki, "Fujima kondachi, you will sub in for Goto kondachi in the last five minutes of the first half."

Tsuki nodded.  "Hai sensei."

Anzai sensei nodded and turned back to the team.  "Remember, you are strong."  He said with a smile.

The team huddled up and shouted, "We are strong!  Fight Shohoku, fight!"

With that, the team huddle broke up and the starting players of Shohoku and Ryofuku entered the court.

As the game progressed, Tsuki sat on the benches observing each player of the opposing school carefully.  She jotted down the strong and weak points of their opponent, analyzing them in detail.  In less than ten minutes, she'd found ways to break through their opponent's defenses, which she was to carry out once she stepped onto the court.

Finally, it was five minutes before the first half ended.  Shohoku team asked for a member change, and Tsuki sub in for Goto.  As she stepped onto the court, murmurs can be heard through out the stadium.  Members of the audience and Ryofuku were all wondering who Shohoku's female player was.

Tsuki ignored all the commotion going on and stepped onto the court casually.

Miyagi walked over and smiled, "Welcome to the game finally."

Tsuki smiled back.  "Thanks.  Should we trade roles then?  I'll start the attacks from this point onwards?"

Miyagi shrugged, "Sure, why not?  But sure to annihilate them totally."  He finished with an evil grin.

Tsuki raised an eyebrow playfully.  "No problem."  (^_^;)

Tsuki hi-5 Miyagi and the game started again.  Just as Miyagi was going to pass the ball to Tsuki from the sidelines, someone from the audience shouted, "It's Kainan!"

Everyone in the audience, including members of Shohoku and Ryofuku turned to look at the reigning champion of the Kanagawa prefecture.  Amidst the Kainan players, there was a female student.  Due to the distance between them, Tsuki couldn't see her clearly, but she knew that girl was the girl whom Anzai sensei referred to when he invited her to join the Shohoku team.

Tsuki noticed that members from both teams were distracted by Kainan's presence.  She clapped her hands a couple of times to bring everyone back to earth.

"Miyagi sempai, pass!"  Tsuki called out to Miyagi.

Everyone was once again concentrated on the game and Miyagi passed Tsuki the ball he had been holding.  Tsuki caught the ball and began dribbling on the spot.  Miyagi ran into an assisting position as soon as he passed the ball out.  Ryofuku's players immediately reacted and switched on their defenses.  Tsuki watched as the opponent's players moved into placed.  One of them ran over to guard her.

Tsuki thought:  This guy's not bad as a point guard, but too bad I'm better than him.

A sly smile curved Tsuki's lips.  She dribbled the ball constantly whilst eyeing the court to scan where her teammates were.  Without any warning, Tsuki dodged the player guarding her and dashed to the three point zone, jumping to shoot.  All these were done so swiftly that the other team hadn't the time to respond.  The three pointer went in and the crowd went wild, shouting and cheering her on.

The Shohoku players came over to Tsuki giving her friendly pats on the back.  Whilst the Ryofuku players had surprise in their eyes, and written all over their faces was:  'What the heck just happened!?'

"That was great Fujima."  Miyagi congratulated Tsuki.

Tsuki smiled.  "Thanks sempai."

Out of the blues, Rukawa's voice was heard.  "I see now.  Thanks for the pointers Fujima."

Tsuki looked at Rukawa and smiled a pleasing smile.  "So you've noticed."

Rukawa nodded and his lips curled up to show a tiny smile (if you can call that a smile at all X_x).

On the sidelines, Anzai sensei smiled cheerfully and murmured to himself.  "She's showed them how to break their opponent down.  She is truly a great player."

In the Kainan camp, their new captain Jin Soichiro raised his eyebrows.  "That girl sure is good.  She showed the traits and the meaning of an 'ace' player in that one shot."

Looking at Jun in confusion, Kiyota Nobunaga, "What do you mean, Jin sempai?"

Takato Riki, Hainan's coach answered Kiyota's question for Jin, "Her moves just now were enough to tell her teammates where the weaknesses of Ryofuku lie, so that they can attack from those weak points of their opponents."  Takato paused and turned to Hashima Senko, Kainan's female player, "Watch her closely Hashima, you can learn a lot from her."

Senko nodded to her coach's advice and continued to watch the game with more focus than before.

Kiyota looked on and mumbled, "She's not that good…"

Jin snapped at Kiyota before he could continue further, "Baka, this Fujima is stronger than she seems!  I can guarantee that she plays at a level way above you, her speed alone is not what you can match up to."

Kiyota scowled and shut-up immediately. 

At one other corner of the spectator stands, Fujima Kenji, Hanagata Toru and Maki Shinichi were also watching the game between Shohoku and Ryofuku.

"Tsuki-chan's gonna thrash Ryofuku."  Hanagata said playfully.

Kenji and Maki grinned at that.

"From the looks of things, Rukawa, Sakuragi, and Miyagi took in the hints Tsuki dropped them with her shot just now.  Things are really gonna get interesting from here onwards."  Maki commented with a smile.

"Yeah."  Agreed Kenji.  "That new player of Shohoku's not that bad either."

Hanagata and Maki looked at the player Kenji mentioned, who wore the number 12 jersey.

Nodding, Maki commented, "He has potentials.  With Tsuki on court, she's bringing out the best of every player, so each of them down there should start to notice where their strong points lie."

Hanagata and Kenji both approved what Maki said.  The three of them continue to watch the game, with Shohoku extending their lead by the minute.  By half time, Shohoku were leading Ryofuku by 20 points.

When the game finally ended, Ryofuku was truly thrashed by Shohoku, and Shohoku played without three of their main players in the second half.  This game was a display of Shohoku's strength and a challenge to all the other teams in the prefecture.

*          *          *          *          *

After the game, Tsuki exited the stadium with her teammates to find Kenji, Hanagata and Maki waiting for her outside.  They were talking to players from Kainan.  She skipped (literally) over to Kenji and grabbed his arm.  Hanging onto Kenji's arm, she shouted his name while smiling cheerfully.  "Kenji-nii chan!"

Kenji smiled upon Tsuki's arrival.  "That was a great game Tsuki."

Meanwhile, the Shohoku members gawked at Tsuki and Kenji.  They were extremely surprised by them and their closeness.  Like anyone would under such circumstances, the Shohoku members started making conclusions about Tsuki and Kenji in their own heads.  Different expressions could be seen forming on different faces, except Rukawa (as usual -_-;), and by the look of things, their thought were not getting anywhere close to the truth.

Whilst the Kainan group were not startled by the situation because Maki had told them about Kenji and Tsuki being cousins before hand.

The silence coming from the Shohoku group made Kenji and Tsuki, also the Kainan players to turn to them.

"Ano…what's that expression with you guys?"  A confused Tsuki asked still clinging to Kenji.

Ayako snapped out of the reverie she was in and asked, "You and Fujima sempai…err…you guys…"  Her voice trailing off as she didn't know how to put what she wanted to ask into the exact words.

Tsuki looked at Ayako, and a sudden realization came to her.  She threw a laughing fit.  Kenji also started to laugh, whilst Hanagata and Maki attempting their best not to burst out like Tsuki and Kenji.

Tsuki finally stopped laughing after god knows how long.  But once she laid eyes upon her teammates, she laughed again.  When she regained composure, she mischievously grinned.  "Minna san, I would like to introduce you all to my cousin, Fujima Kenji."

Everyone jaw-dropped, but Rukawa just raised an eyebrow upon the news.

Although Rukawa didn't show much interest in the situation, he heaved a mental sigh of relieve.  As to why he did that, he had no idea himself, so he gave himself a mental kick too.  (*snickers*  the smell of blooming romance, perhaps? Hehehe…)

"What!?  You're the substitute's cousin?!"  Yelped Sakuragi.

"Substitute?"  Tsuki raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Do'aho."  Rukawa rolled his eyes at Sakuragi (well, well, well…we've finally got a reaction from dear Rukawa-kun :P hehehe…)

"Teme kitsune!"  Sakuragi got ready to jump on Rukawa to start another of their brawls but was held back by his gundan who got there just in the nick of time.

It was Miyagi who was kind enough to explain to Tsuki with a grin.  "That's the nickname Hanamichi gave to Fujima."

Tsuki turned to Kenji, "Why did Sakuragi-kun call you that Kenji-nii chan?"

Kenji shrugged.  "Guess it's because when we first met, he saw be sitting on the benches rather than being one of the starting players for Shoyo."

Tsuki nodded, "I see."  She then turned to Sakuragi.  "Sakuragi-kun, my Kenji-nii chan is 'definitely not' a bench warmer."  She said to him in a disapproving tone, with strong emphasis on the words 'definitely not'.  This surprised everyone, especially Kenji.

"Yare yare…"  Sakuragi waved off the tensing atmosphere.

"Anyways, please don't call my cousin substitute again, okay?  Sakuragi-kun?"  Tsuki smiled lightly as her request to Sakuragi.

Sakuragi blushed a little when he saw her smile, and nodded as reply.  Tsuki's smile brightened as his agreement.

Ayako stepped up to Tsuki and Kenji, studying them from head to toe.  "Hmmm… looking at you two now, you do have some similarities.  Especially your eyes and hair."

Tsuki let go of Kenji's arm and walked over to Ayako.  "You're right there Ayako-san."  She smiled.  "Brown hair and blue eyes are the trademark of our family.  Also, basketball runs in the family."  She winked at Kenji and Ayako on that.

Kenji smiled and hugged Tsuki warmly.  Letting go, he turned to face everyone smiling, "Yap, she's my cutest and prettiest little itoko.  The one and only."

Tsuki blushed a little at Kenji's words and smiled sweetly at him.

"Oi!  Speed girl!"  A familiar voice was heard above the little chatter between the Kainan and Shohoku players.

Tsuki turned to see Akida Hiroshi walking towards her together with two guys who she'd seen at the fuel station.

Tsuki waved at them.  "Akida-san!"

"Hey, you guys played a great game just now.  The other team was totally thrashed by you."  Hiroshi congratulating her and their team.

"Thanks."  Tsuki smiled, and turned to introduce Akida to everyone.  "Everyone, this is Akida Hiroshi, a friend of mine."

Upon seeing Hiroshi, Rukawa recognized him.  He thought to himself:  This is the guy from that fuel station.  What's he doing here?

"Hi."  Hiroshi waved in gesture.  Everyone nodded in acknowledgment.

Hiroshi then introduced the two guys with him to Tsuki.  "This is Yoda Kentaro and Kuno Yohji.  They are both my team members and co-owners of the fuel station."

Tsuki nodded, "I see, nice to meet you both.  Yoroshiku."

"Same here."  Yoda and Kuno replied in unison.

Kuno showed a thoughtful look, "So, you are the owner of that N1 huh?  Ever think about racing that immaculate machine of yours?"

Tsuki raised an eyebrow at Kuno then snarled at Hiroshi.  "You didn't tell them did you?"

Hiroshi laughed dryly.  "Ano…hehe…I forgot?"

Tsuki rolled her eyes.  "Forget it.  You'd better explain the situation to them, pronto!"

Hiroshi sheepishly agreed.  "Hai."

Kenji suddenly shrieked as he took a look at this watch.  "Tsuki, we're gonna be late for the dinner at Bunta ojisan's!"

Tsuki quickly glanced at her watch.  "Yiaks!  We're dead.  Iko, Kenji-nii chan, hayaku!"

Kenji and Tsuki dashed to a silver Honda S2000 parked next to a Red Mazda RX-7 FD3S in the stadium's car park.  The players of both schools and Striker's members heard Tsuki shouting to Kenji as they ran.  "I'll drive!"  And Kenji threw her the keys to his car.  Then they saw Tsuki and Kenji jumping into the car and sped off with tires screeching.

"Err…what was that about?"  Asked Ayako.

"They're going to Akina (a town in the Gunma prefecture, for those of you who don't know :)) for Tsuki's ojisan's birthday dinner tonight.  By the look of things, they're gonna be late."  Maki replied.

"Aa.  I see."  Ayako nodded her head.

"So…shall we go then?"  Hanagata asked everyone.

They all headed for the exit, with the Shohoku players in one direction and the Kainan players in another.

"Nice car you got there."  Commented Hiroshi to Maki as Maki reached his RX-7.

"Thanks, but I'm not racer, so don't bother asking me anything about the car or races."  Maki replied.

Hiroshi was rather taken aback by Maki, but he soon laughed.  "Guess speed girl's complained about me before huh?"

Maki smiled and nodded.

Hiroshi then bit his goodbyes to Maki and Hanagata before settling himself in his MR2 and drove off with Kuno in his white Nissan Silvia S13 and Yoda in his Red Nissan Fairlady 300Z.

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_akane__の__ tea house~_

_Another chapter done…finally  -_-; _

_Again…comments and flames are welcomed __J___

_Cheers~  =^.^=_


	7. The Racer Awaken, But Soon Sleep Once Mo...

_Disclaimer:      I don't own Slam Dunk or Initial D!  I'm just borrowing the characters from their authors Inoue Takehiko and Shigeno Shuichi.  ^_~_

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**Chapter 7 - The Racer Awaken, But Soon Sleep Once More**

Surprisingly, Kenji and Tsuki did make it to Akina in time for her uncle's birthday dinner.  They arrived in front of Fujiwara Tofu Shop at 6:00pm, right on the dot.  But on the way to Akina, Tsuki's Skyline was filled with Kenji's screams.

*~*~*~*~*     Flashback         *~*~*~*~*

"You're going too fast Tsuki!  Slow down!"  Kenji shouted over the roar of the N1's engine.

Tsuki ignored Kenji and continue to push the engine further into the red zone on third gear, and in a split-second, she felt the turbo kicked in, sending the car to surge forward with high speed.  She glanced at the speedometer, which showed the car traveling at 160kmh.  She smiled and continued pressing the accelerator.

"Tsuki!!!  Slow down!!!  Too fast!!!"  Screamed a horrified Kenji.

"Watch out, the car in front is too close!"  "Hit the brakes, you're too close to that car!"  "Hit the brakes!!!"  "No, no, no!!!  Too close!!!"

Those were the type of screams (you got the idea) that can be heard from Kenji as soon as they got home and changed cars after they've freshen up.  Although feeling rather irritated by Kenji's screams, Tsuki ignored him as they weaved in and out of traffic on the way until they got to Akina.

*~*~*~*~*     End Flashback  *~*~*~*~*

Tsuki pulled the hand break and flashed a smile at Kenji.  "We're here.  That wasn't that bad, was it?"

A rather green Kenji was grasping for breath and he turned to glare at Tsuki.  "Fujima Tsuki!  You are a crazy driver!"

Tsuki looked back at Kenji innocently.  "What?  I'm not a crazy driver.  I'm a very cautious and skilled driver.  Also, I got us here just in time."

Kenji snorted and got out of the car.  Tsuki followed him, grabbing the present from the back seat as she got out.

Tsuki noticed two cars parked opposite to theirs in front of the shop.  It was a white Mazda RX-7 FC Savannah and a yellow RX-7 FD3S Enfini (for those who don't know, FC is the model before the FD), both with 'Redsuns' stickers stuck onto the tail end of the vehicles.

Tsuki thought the two cars looked very familiar, then she remembered:  So, the renowned Rotary Brothers of the Akagi Redsuns are here.  Wonder why…

(Akagi is another town/city in the Gunma prefecture.  The title 'Rotary Brothers' was given because they both drove rotary engine powered RX-7s.  As for those of you out there who are quite knowledgeable about sport cars, please excuse this bragging of mine~  =^.^=)

The knocked on the tofu shop's door and waited until someone opened it.

"Sorry we're closed."  Said a rather sleepy sounding voice.

"Takumi-nii chan, is that you?  It's Tsuki."  Tsuki called out.

The shop's door immediately opened showing a sleepy looking boy about Tsuki and Kenji's age, who is around the same height as Kenji.

Tsuki shoved the present package into Kenji's arm and threw herself at the sleepy boy, hugging him.  "Takumi-nii chan!  I've missed you so much."

The sleepy boy, Fujiwara Takumi was startled by Tsuki, but soon smiled and hugged his cousin back.  "Tsuki-chan, I've missed you too."

The two parted and smiled happily at each other.

"You guys forgetting about me?"  Kenji said in a sourish tone.

Takumi and Tsuki both looked at Kenji, and laughed at his face.

Takumi patted Kenji friendlily on the shoulder, "Great to see you again Kenji."

Kenji smiled, "Likewise, Takumi."

"Hey, let's go in, and get going, I'm starved!  Hope you haven't forget that I just finished playing a game not long ago."  Tsuki hurried her two cousins into the shop.

Fujiwara Takumi was the son of Fujiwara Bunta, who was Tsuki's mother, Fujiwara Yukino's older brother.  The tofu shop was the Fujiwara's family business, and the Fujiwaras live above the shop for convenience and economical sake.

Tsuki skipped into the living area behind the tofu shop gleefully and hugged her Uncle Bunta who was seated on the tatami as soon as she saw him, totally ignoring the two handsome young men sitting next to her uncle.

"Happy birthday ojisan.  And I've missed you."

Fujiwara Bunta smiled lovingly (the way the elders do to younger family members) at Tsuki hugging her in return.  "Hey kitty cat, hope you've been behaving yourself and not troubling Shuichi and Kazumi."

"Ojisan!  How can you say that about me, your sweet niece!?"  Exclaimed a pouting Tsuki after releasing herself and her uncle from their hug.

Everyone in the cozy living room, including the Rotary Brothers laughed at the look Tsuki had on her face, to which she pouted some more.

Kenji was sympathetic enough to break the embarrassing situation apart for Tsuki.  "Happy birthday ojisan.  This is just a little something Tsuki and I got for you, hope you like it."

Bunta took the nicely wrapped present from Kenji, "Thank you, the both of you."  He then eyed Tsuki suspiciously, "It's not another crystal piece again, I hope?"

Tsuki smiled, "No, it's not this time.  I remembered you don't like crystal that much ojisan, so we got you something else this time."

Bunta raised an eyebrow in question and disbelieve, since Tsuki's always buying crystal figurines for her own collection and as presents to others.  So Bunta turned to Kenji for confirmation, "She telling the truth?"  Kenji nodded.

Bunta unwrapped the sapphire blue wrapping paper to show a black box with the words 'momo design' written in silver on top.  Opening the box, a watch is shown sitting in its center.  It was a limited edition watch from momo design.  Bunta took it out and tried it on his left wrist, the watch fitted perfectly.

"You two shouldn't have spent so much on getting this watch."  Bunta said as he took the watch off and replaced it back in the box carefully.

"Ojisan, it's not as expensive as you think."  Tsuki said in a sweet, sweet voice trying to convince her uncle to accept the gift.

Bunta sighed, he can never get on the winning end when Tsuki put on her sweet face.  In fact, how can anyone say no to such an angelic face.  So, he took the watch out of the box again and wore it.

"Happy now, kitty cat?"  Bunta smiled at Tsuki.  He thought:  She looks so much like Yukino.

Tsuki beamed at Bunta.  

A soft cough was heard from one of the two brothers, trying to tell everyone that they're not invisible (:P).

"Oops."  Takumi blurted and smiled apologetically at the brothers.  "Tsuki, Kenji, I'd like you to meet the Takahashi brothers, Ryosuke and Keisuke."

Tsuki and Kenji both turned to looked at the brothers.  "Doumo yoroshiku."  And, began introduced themselves.

"Watashi wa Fujima Kenji, and this is my itoko Tsuki-chan desu."  Kenji bowing slightly at the Takahashi brothers as he introduced himself and Tsuki.

The older of the brothers, Ryosuke bowed slightly in return with a polite smile.  "Watashi wa Takahashi Ryosuke."  Pointing to his brother beside him, "This is my itoto Keisuke."

"So…"  Tsuki started with a knowing tone, looking at the Takahashi brothers.  "You two are the famous Rotary Brothers of the Akagi Redsuns.  I've heard a lot about you."

Both brothers looked at Tsuki with new found interest (not the romantic type!).  Being the hot-headed person he was, Keisuke spoke, "Have you?  Not many people are familiar with my brother and me, unless they're street racers or professional racers.   So, since you know about us, you must be into racing as well then, right?"

Tsuki grinned, "Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not a racer at all.  However, I do read a lot of car magazines, so being familiar with the term 'Rotary Brothers' is understandable."

"Sou ka."  Keisuke replied.

Tsuki nodded.  Before anyone had a chance to say anything else, Ryosuke spoke calmly.  "But with that car of yours, you can't say that you don't know anything about racing."

(Most racers or those who are obsessed with cars, they can differentiate between cars just by listening to the engine's sound or the exhaust system.)

Tsuki frowned a little and thought:  Uh oh…I'm cornered.  

"So I guess what I've heard is true then, Takahashi Ryosuke is as good as people said when it's concerned with analyzing cars."  She said with a slightly teasing tone.

Ryosuke just smiled, not the least bit irritated with her tone of voice.  "Thank you for your compliment, especially a compliment coming from such a beautiful girl."

Tsuki grumbled a little under her breath.  

"OK.  The final note is, I don't race."  She said with a shrug, giving in a little.

"But you do know how to race, am I correct?"  Ryosuke continued to press a little.

"I do know the techniques.  And for reasons I don't want to discuss, I don't race."  She finally blurted out.

"What!?  You know all the techniques and you don't race?  You don't know what you're missing!"  Keisuke cried with disbelieve.

Everyone turned to look at the flustered Keisuke then burst out laughing.

Tsuki replied Keisuke with little laughs in between lines, "Ano…hehe…I think…hehe…you're overreacting…Keisuke-san…hehehe…"

Keisuke pouted.  "No, I'm not!  How can you not make use of your skills?"  He said disapprovingly.

Tsuki shrugged.  "I'm not like you Keisuke-san.  I can see that you take your driving very seriously and make it your number one priority.  But for me, it isn't and it'll never be."

Keisuke opened his mouth to retort some more, but before he could do so, Ryosuke interjected.  "Calm down Keisuke.  Tsuki-chan has her reasons, and I can see that she hasn't the heart of a racer."

"Aniki!  But…"

Ryosuke just shook his head at Keisuke, and Keisuke zipped his lips from there on.

"Ahem.  Should we go now?  I'm getting hungry."  Bunta said, easing the air a little.

Tsuki jumped up from her seat pulling Bunta on the way.  "Yeah, let's go!  I'm hungry too, in fact I'm starving."  She cried.

Kenji got up.  "You're always starving Tsuki."  He said teasingly.

Tsuki stuck her tongue out at Kenji in annoyance with him.  "You can walk back to Kanagawa later."

Kenji immediately acted as if he's in relieve, "Oh, thank kami-sama!  I don't have to endure your crazy driving again."

Tsuki kicked Kenji playfully in revenge for what he said and ignored him.  Bunta looked at the cousin pair shaking his head with a smile plastered on his face.

After dinner, Tsuki and Kenji sent Takumi and Bunta home.  The Takahashi brothers also followed them back to the tofu shop.

"Fujiwara, it's time to go."  Keisuke called out from his car.

Takumi nodded and went to his car, the infamous Akina 86, a white Toyota Trueno AE86.

Tsuki, being the curious cat that she is asked, "Where are you guys going?"

"Akina Mountain pass.  We have a training meet there tonight, you want to come along?"  Ryosuke asked invitingly.

Tsuki thought about it for a bit and nodded.  "Sure, why not?  Love to see Project D in action."

(Project D is the street racing team that Ryosuke formed with the best racers in the Gunma area.)

"OK, let's go then."  Keisuke said excitedly.  "Oh, Tsuki-chan, catch me if you can!"  His yellow FD sped off on that.

Tsuki accepted the challenge and before Kenji, who was sitting in the passenger seat said no, she shifted into first gear and sped off behind Keisuke.

"You think your FD can out-class my N1 huh?  We'll see about that!"  She mumbled and she put more pressure on the accelerator and shifted into higher gear.  Once again, Kenji was screaming his heart out at Tsuki telling her to stop, but she ignored him as before.  So, the only thing Kenji can do was close his eyes and no look to minimize his worries.

Whilst at the back, Ryosuke had a thoughtful smile on his face.  "Let's see how responsive the N1 is.  GTR-34 N1…I will dissect you fully by the end of this night."  With that, Ryosuke sped off following the two cars in front, and Takumi also followed suit.

As they reached the Akina mountain pass, Keisuke looked at his rear view mirror to check that Tsuki was following him.  He smiled slyly and accelerated as he lowered to second gear.  The yellow FD sped forward and was into drift position on the first turn.  

Tsuki's N1 followed Keisuke's FD.  She smiled confidently:  You think you can out-run me?  Better think again Takahashi Keisuke.

She lowered into second gear and spun the wheels into drift position, stepping hard on the accelerator.  The N1 sailed out of the corner smoothly and caught up to the FD as it exited the corner.

Keisuke was rather surprised with the move Tsuki just threw:  She's not bad.  Alright, see if you can catch me when I go all out.

He stepped harder on the accelerator and the rpm needle went into the red zone.  A blast of fire was let out from the FD's exhaust pipe as the FD surged forward in greater speed.

Tsuki took that as a challenge from Keisuke.  "Hang on tight Kenji-nii chan, I'm going all out from here on."

Kenji gripped the hand grip tighter still with his eyes closed.  Praying silently:  Oh please let this be over soon.

Tsuki rev the engine more as she accelerated.  The turbo kicked in and the ETS system of the N1 distributed the increased force and speed evenly through the four tires.  She tailed Keisuke closely before over-taking him as they entered the third last corner of the pass.

Keisuke was wide-eyed with shock.  He couldn't believe that he was beaten by a girl, further more, it's by a car he disliked most, a Skyline GTR!

For Ryosuke who was following them both from behind, he was surprised by the result too.  He had expected Tsuki to be a good driver, but never expected her to be this good.  Not many people could do what she did just now, especially sliding out to overtake Keisuke at that third last corner at such an unusual angle.  

He smiled to himself as he thought the situation over:  Glad that she's not in an opposing team, if not, we'd have a really hard time dealing with her.  But from what I just saw, she must've had professional training before.  Better ask Takumi about this cousin of his later.

When they reach the top of the Akina mountain pass, Takumi introduced Tsuki and Kenji to the other members of Project D, and the Akina Speedstar's members.  Nakazato Takashi, a member of the Project D team and the leader of the Myougi NightKids was extremely impressed with Tsuki's N1 since he himself drove a black Skyline GTR-32.  But Keisuke was pouting all night due to the lost to Tsuki from his little friendly challenge to her (hehehe…).

As the night deepened, Tsuki and Kenji bit their farewells to Project D and SpeedStars.  Before they left Akina, some of the racers told Tsuki that they'll go and watch her play in the finals.

The drive home back to Kanagawa was a leisurely one, therefore Kenji did not scream like before for that leg of the journey.  One thing Kenji learnt that night was, Tsuki was a hell of a good driver since she can match it against the best drivers in Gunma, and probably the whole of Japan.  That really made him wonder why she was repressing the driving skills, because he really thought that she'd make it into the professional racing circle effortlessly…

_akane__の__ tea house…_

_I know this chapter has nothing to do with basketball or SD, but I thought it'd be interesting to add in a little "side-dish" to the "main-dish".  Hehehe…_

_And for those of you out there who are familiar with Initial D and Keisuke fans, sorry about the little upset I put Keisuke through in the fic…(runs and duck from rotten tomatoes and eggs  ^_^;)_

_Anyways…I can assure you that I'll go back to basketball again in the following chapters, but the Initial D characters will also pop up now and then in future chapters._

_Cheers~  =^.^=_


	8. The Provincial Finals Begin

**Chapter 8 - The Provincial Finals Begin…**

Shohoku's players were found sitting in a semicircle before Ayako and Haruko in the gym, a couple of weeks before the finals.  Miyagi was standing beside their two managers.

"Minna-san, here is the schedule for the finals.  Our first game is against Shoyo, second with Ryonan, and third with Kainan."  Announced Ayako as she sent Haruko to pin up the schedule on the wall.

"Interesting lineup."   Smiled Tsuki.  "But guess I'm going to be hounded by someone at home everyday until the Shoyo match is over."  She let out a mushroom breath in feebly.

"OK.  Let's start today's practice now!  Shohoku, fight!"  Miyagi roared to everyone with extreme energy.

Everyone held their fists up in the air and replied energetically in unison, "Shohoku fight!"

With that the Shohoku team started the day's practice.  Every player was eager to meet up with Shoyo, one of the strongest team in the prefecture, and determined to win their game.

When the players finished their routine jog around the courts, Ayako came up to Tsuki who was stretching herself in one corner.

"Tsuki-chan, can I ask you something?"

Tsuki stopped stretching and looked at Ayako.  "Sure Ayako-san, wassup?"

"Oh, I'm just wondering why you came to Shohoku instead of Shoyo.  I mean, your cousin Fujima sempai is the coach of the Shoyo high basketball team."

Tsuki grinned.  "You've answered your question yourself, Ayako-san."

Ayako went blank for a moment before blurting out, "Huh?"

Tsuki grinned some more.  "Like you say, Kenji-nii chan is the coach of Shoyo's basketball team."

"And that has something to do with you not wanting to go to Shoyo?"

Tsuki nodded.  "Does the word 'favoritism' ring a bell?"

"You mean you're worried that people there won't acknowledge you for your skills but for you being Fujima sempai's cousin to be able to get into their team there?"  Ayako stated with a disbelieving tone.

Tsuki shrugged.  "That's just my worrying anyways, cause I really don't wanna get Kenji-nii chan into any awkward positions.  But the main reason is that Shohoku has a higher standard in their science fields compared to Shoyo.  Shoyo is stronger in the literature fields."

Ayako nodded in agreement.  "So, guess you're planning to study in the science field when you get to university right?"

"Bingo!"  Tsuki said with a click of her fingers.  "I'm planning to study computer science in ToDai."

"Wow, you're must be really ambitious since you're planning to get into ToDai."  Ayako said admiringly.

Tsuki laughed and waved it off.  "It's not that big a deal."

"It is when you plan to get into the best university in the country!"

Tsuki just smiled.  She didn't feel the need to say anymore, since she herself is not that certain about her plans for the future yet.

*          *          *          *          *

Time flew by quickly and as Tsuki expected, Kenji hassled her about their game in the finals constantly when ever he saw her at home.  Tsuki finally gave in to Kenji's constant pestering and announced to everyone, both Shohoku and Shoyo that she would sit out of that game.  This came as a shock to the Shohoku team much to the delight of the Shoyo team, especially their coach (^_^;).  

Even though Tsuki did not play in that game, Shoyo still lost to Shohoku.  Largely due to the fact that she was there to observe and explored the possible weaknesses in Shoyo's game.  Not playing, but telling her teammates where Shoyo's weaknesses were, enabled them to attack their opponent effortlessly.  Of course, at the end of all these, she was pestered by Kenji once more, saying that she killed his team, to which Tsuki sweat-dropped at, big time!  And…she decided to ignore Kenji until the end of the finals (hehe… :P)

But for Ryonan and Kainan, their game ended with Kainan winning by one point, which was a last minute three pointer by Jin.  The score was 66 – 65.

*          *          *          *          *

When they come up against Ryonan in the second game a week later however, Tsuki was met with a big surprise.  Ryonan recruited one of the ace players from her old school's number one foe, Watanabe David, an American – Japanese.

Tsuki stalled upon seeing his face.  She thought:  What is he doing here?  With him playing for Ryonan, we can't win that smoothly today.  Guess I need to change the tactics a little then.

During the pre-game warm-ups, Watanabe came up to Tsuki.  "Fancy seeing you here Fujima."  He said smiling at her.

This of course got the attention of players from both sides immediately, also that of the watching Kainan and Shoyo players.  One player from Shohoku in particular frowned at the meeting (guess who? Hehehe… :P).

Tsuki smiled in return.  "Likewise, Watanabe-kun.  I didn't know you were coming back to Japan."

"Yeah, was quite a sudden move actually.  My dad got transferred back, so here I am."  He said smiling.  "How about you?"

Tsuki nodded.  "I came back in spring this year, and I'm here to stay, for now at least."

"I see.  We should catch up some time."

"Sure, why not?"  Tsuki said with a shrug.

"Hey David, how come you didn't tell us you know the vice-captain of Shohoku?"  Sendoh strolled over to join their conversation.

Tsuki looked at Sendoh and said, "You must be Sendoh Akira, Ryonan's ace and captain.  Yoroshiku, Sendoh sempai."

Hearing this, Sendoh overjoyed.  Flashing his brilliant smiles, "To be known by a beautiful young lady such as yourself is a great pleasure of mine, Fujima-san."  He finished with a gentlemanly bow.

Tsuki laughed at this, while Watanabe had his face all twisted upon hearing this.  "You've such humor, Sendoh sempai."

"Oh please!  Stop making a fool out of yourself again Sendoh sempai!"  Chided Watanabe.

"Jealous of me Watanabe?  Can't help it if I've got such charismatic charms."  Sendoh said proudly.

"Oh please!  I think I'm gonna puke!"  Protested Watanabe.

Tsuki cracked herself laughing at the little squabble between the two, while a pair of icy blue eyes was glaring icicles at the threesome.

"Itai!"  Sendoh exclaimed suddenly and held up a hand to his sore head that was just hit by a basketball.

The threesome turned around and was Rukawa shaking his hand a little, whilst everyone else who saw him threw the ball at Sendoh froze in action and sweat-dropped (^_^;).

"What did you do that for Rukawa!?"  Demanded a yelping Sendoh.

Rukawa shrugged. "I slipped."

Everyone sweat-dropped some more (^_^;;).

"Oi Rukawa!  I accept your challenge, on both issues."  Sendoh shouted to Rukawa suddenly.

The later turned around and glared at Sendoh more icily than before.  "I'm going to win, no matter which 'issue' it is."

Everyone gapped and thought simultaneously:  Rukawa spoke more than three syllables today!  Sugoi~

As for the 'issues' that Sendoh and Rukawa mentioned, no one knew what they were other than themselves.

"Ano… May I ask what are you two talking about?"  Asked a confused Tsuki.

Sendoh turned and smiled at her.  "Iie.  Nandamonai."

"K…"  Tsuki blurted, still puzzled.  But she soon waved that away.  "Anyways, nice meeting you again Watanabe-kun and nice to meet you too Sendoh sempai.  We'll meet on court later."  And she walked off and rejoined her teammates.

Surprisingly, as she walked pass Rukawa, he said softly, "Don't be fooled by that smiling idiot."

Tsuki stopped and looked at him.  "Huh?  Come again?"

Rukawa did not reply her and continue to shooting at the hoop leaving a very curious and baffled Tsuki.

As the game progressed, it was as Tsuki predicted.  They're not going to win that easily with Watanabe playing with Ryonan.  Tsuki sat out for the first fifteen minutes of the game like she did in the Ryofuku game and observed Ryonan's play carefully, trying to find flaws in their game.  She frowned as she watched.

Wracking her brains out to find solutions to the current problems:  Sendoh's a handful for Rukawa, so he can't deal with Watanabe.  Sakuragi's got his handful with Fukuda as well.  Hmm… Uekusa, Goto can handle him easily.  Miyagi sempai can deal with Koshino easily also.  But matching Kakuta against Watanabe is definitely a mistake.  Guess we'll just have fix this little mismatch then.

She looked up at the score board.  Shohoku was trailing Ryonan 5 points.  She signaled to Miyagi and Goto, asking them to block Watanabe.  Of course they also have to be aware of the movements of Uekusa and Koshino.  The little strategy worked rather well for the next five minutes, so Tsuki did not enter the game.

However, when the second half of the game started, Tsuki entered the game and went against Watanabe herself.  Watanabe wasn't able to loose Tsuki when she guarded him.  This cost Ryonan dearly since their winning advantage from earlier was now gone.  To the surprise of everyone, Tsuki managed to play for the whole of the second half without difficulty in her breathing or showing any signs of being unwell physically.

The game ended with Shohoku winning, 71 – 64.  Players from both teams gathered in the center of the court to bit their well-wishes for their forthcoming game and dispersed.

"I told you I'd win."  Said Rukawa to Sendoh in his cold, low voice as he brushed pass Sendoh.

Sendoh raised an eyebrow at him, "Don't be so sure Rukawa.  You may have won the ball game, but you haven't won the other game yet."  He ended his statement with his trademark grin.

Rukawa glared at him colder than ever before.  "You WILL NOT win, I WILL NOT LET YOU!"  He said in a demanding tone, and walked away to catch up with his teammates who were headed for the locker rooms.

Sendoh was left rather dumbfounded by Rukawa's suddenly drastically augmented hostility towards him.  But he soon smiled to himself:  Well, well, well, the ice prince's in love.  Now that's definitely the news of the century.  But… I also want that girl, so Rukawa, I'm certainly not going to back out and give you a fight you asked for!  (akane sweat-dropped  ^_^;)

As the Shohoku players were exiting the stadium, they were met up with Akida Hiroshi and some members of the Strikers, and a few members of Project D.

Tsuki came up to them and hugged her cousin, Fujiwara Takumi.  "Takumi-nii chan, what are you guys doing in Kanagawa?"

At the same time, a certain blue-eyed fox was staring daggers at Takumi through his almost shut eyes, while everyone thought he was asleep as he stood.

"You're not happy to see me?"  Takumi questioned Tsuki instead of answering her with a pretended hurt look on his face.

Tsuki let out a small laugh and punched Takumi friendlily.  "Of course I'm happy to see you, I'm just curious about your presence here that's all."

Takumi smiled at her and ruffled her silky brown hair playfully.  "Curiosity kills the cat you know?"

Tsuki rolled her eyes and turned to the Takahashi brothers.  "One of you liked to tell me?"

Akida spoke instead of the either of the Takahashi brothers.  "They're here to challenge us to a race."

Tsuki raised an eyebrow at the news, then asked excitedly,  "When and where?"

"Tonight at 10pm, on our home turf."  Akida replied in a cool tone Tsuki had not heard from him before.

"Ooh… Can I go and watch?"  Tsuki asked all keyed up.

Akida was surprised by her.  "And here I thought someone told me that she's not into racing anymore."  He stated with a teasing grin.

"I'm not."  Tsuki shrugged and disregard Akida's teasing.  "But I never said that I'd give up watching a good race if there's one."

Akida was lost for words to tease her further.  She smiled at him triumphantly.

"Tsuki-chan, care to introduce us to your friends here?"  Haruko came up to Tsuki and asked.

Tsuki smiled and introduced Takumi and the Takahashi brothers to her teammates.  After the introduction, everyone decided that it was time to leave and go home to rest, for they still have a final game against Kainan tomorrow.  So, the players dispersed and Tsuki led Takumi and the Takahashi brothers to the Fujima mansion.

On the same day, Shoyo was playing against Kainan across town, a game which Kenji and Maki bickered about whenever they saw each other before the game.  To everyone's shock, Kainan, the reigning champion of Kanagawa for seventeen years lost to Shoyo by one point when the game ran over timed!  A really big bombshell!    The score was 75 – 74.  (akane runs and hides from all the readers who are Kainan supporters  ^_^;;;)

That night, Tsuki went to watch the race between Project D and Akida's Strikers.  Akida himself, leader and ace of their team raced against Takumi on the downhill run and Kuno against Keisuke Takahashi on the uphill run.  Tsuki stayed with Ryosuke to watch the game at the bottom of the mountain pass, they discussed the mountain pass's condition as Ryosuke opened his simulation program on his laptop.  They also talked about the modifications Tsuki had on her N1 and how to improve it further bla, bla, bla…

Both races finished with Project D winning, and Akida was teased about it by Tsuki.

"Yare, yare…"  Akida grumbled in replied to Tsuki's friendly teasing.

*          *          *          *          *

Sunday morning was a bright and sunny one, not to mention warm.  In the local sporting complex, the final two games of the summer basketball season was about to be played.  The first game was between Shoyo and Ryonan, and the second between Shohoku and Kainan.

Shoyo lacked the abilities to constrain the teaming of Sendoh, Watanabe and Fukuda.  It became a one-sided game by ten minutes before the end of the match.  Ryonan won the game by eleven points, 89 – 78.

Tsuki hugged Kenji in effort to comfort him from the lost when he walked pass her going to the locker rooms.  He smiled rather weakly at her, but thanked her for her kindness.

When the court was thoroughly cleaned for the next game, Shohoku and Kainan entered with the crowd cheering loudly.  In the pre-game warm-ups, Tsuki met the other female player, Hashima Senko in the league officially.

"Nice too meet you finally Fujima sempai, yoroshiku."  Said Senko as she dribbled the ball up to Tsuki.

Tsuki smiled at her supposedly kohai.  "You're Hashima Senko right?"

Seeing Senko nodding, Tsuki added smiling, "You know, I'm actually the same age as you are, so you don't have to call me sempai, just call me Tsuki will do."

Senko beamed.  "Alright then, Tsuki-chan.  It's really nice to meet you finally."

"Likewise."  Tsuki smiling.

The two girls quickly became good friends with a few lines of chatting.  Then out of the blue Senko's eyes twinkled and she blushed furiously.  Confused by Senko, Tsuki followed her gaze, which fell on a certain red-headed teammate of hers.

Tsuki grinned and eyed Senko devilishly, "I see someone's got the hots for Sakuragi-kun."

Senko blushed redden further.  "Tsuki-chan… "

Tsuki broke out laughing when she saw Senko turned redder than a tomato.  "Well, how do you expect me to react anyways Senko-chan? Hehehe… "

Once Senko regained her composure from being teased, she said happily, "Don't you think he's really cook?  I mean, he's an extremely good basketballer and he's got a really hot bod!"  

Tsuki can see Senko's eyes changing into heart shapes instantly.  She sighed, "Whatever… If you like him, tell him!  Speaking of which… "

Tsuki walked away from the still love-struck, heart-shape-eyed Senko and strolled toward Haruko.  She pulled Haruko to a corner of their benches and said, "For goodness sake Haruko-chan, stop drooling over Rukawa and go tell him how you feel about him already!  You're not going to get anywhere by just admiring him from afar!"

Haruko looked at Tsuki wide-eyed.  "Demo… de… "

"Stop demo-ing. Just tell him!"  Tsuki said firmly and turned to return to her warm-ups.

After the warm-up session, both teams returned to their benches awaiting instructions from their coaches.

"Sensei, I wonder if you can put me in as one of the starting players today."  Tsuki asked Anzai sensei.

Everyone was rather stunned by her request.

"Tsuki-chan, but you, your physical condition… "  Ayako started with her voice filled with concern.

"Daijoubu, Fujima?"  A cold, stoic voice interjected suddenly.

Everyone turned to stare at Rukawa.  His speaking out of the blue definitely was a shock to everyone's system.

Tsuki smiled at him and her other teammates.  "Daijoubu.  I'm fine.  If you guys haven't noticed, I was playing for the whole of the second half in yesterday's game."  She said lightheartedly.

"Hn."  Came the trademark reply from our dear ice-prince.

"Aah!  That's right!  You were playing for the full twenty minutes yesterday!  No wonder I felt something was rather amiss then."  Exclaimed an overjoyed Ayako.

Tsuki's smile broadened.  "Sensei?"

Anzai sensei nodded.  "Ho.  Ho.  Ho.  Very well then Fujima kondachi, you will join Miyagi, Rukawa, Sakuragi and Goto when the game starts today.  And, you're Kainan counterpart will be their captain, Jin Soichiro."

Tsuki nodded.  "I understand sensei.  He will not have any successes at shooting his perfect three-pointers today."

Anzai sensei smiled and continued nodding.

As the buzzer sounded, signaling the start of the game, the starting players from both schools piled onto the center of the court.  At the toss of the ball into the air, the game began.

Just as Tsuki promised, Jin was so tightly guarded by her that he couldn't attempt at shooting any of his well-known three-pointers.  However, being the captain of their team, Jin had to hold back all his frustration in order to not disrupt his team's concentration.  

Rukawa and Sakuragi also showed no mercy to their opponents.  The two made such an amazing team that Kainan's coach, Takato kept breaking his fan (I think everyone know about his fan rite?) in frustration and anger.  He was totally overwhelmed by the dramatic improvements of Rukawa and Sakuragi.

The game finally ended with Rukawa and Sakuragi both jumping up to reach for the rebound, both hung onto the hoop and shouting insults at each other (like they did in one of the scenes in the anime/comic).  That, of course made everyone on court and off court sweat-dropped (^_^;;).  The final score was 88 – 79, with Shohoku exited as the winners.

With Ryonan and Kainan both winning two games and loosing one game each, their competition for second place was done by their score's calculation.  Therefore, after all the calculations were done, the judges announced Ryonan as the winner of second place.

At the award ceremony, Rukawa and Sendoh tied for MVP that year.  Tsuki was a considered contender for the MVP race, but her participation in the games throughout the finals was too little.  Thus, it was not convincing enough for the judges to name her as MVP although she was extremely skilled at the sport.  The top five players of the prefecture were Rukawa, Sendoh, Sakuragi, Nobunaga, and Tsuki (well… she's still too good to be neglected :P hehehe… ).


	9. The Pounding of Sakuragi and Rukawa

**Chapter 9 - The Pounding of Sakuragi and Rukawa**

Monday morning.  As Tsuki got out of her car in Shohoku's car park, she was greeted by almost every student present.  All of them congratulating her and the basketball team's victory.   She smiled politely at everyone, and was soon met by her other teammates as they entered the school grounds.

The day went on as usual with Rukawa sleeping and Sakuragi daydreaming in class while the teachers hurled curses at both of them.  But this normality lasted only until the end of lunch.

Rukawa entered the classroom after lunch glaring at Tsuki with a coldness she's never felt coming from him before, and the glare was also filled with white hot anger.  As soon as she felt that someone was glaring daggers at her, she turned to look at the perpetrator.

Tsuki sweat-dropped thinking:  What's with Rukawa?!

She was totally confused by Rukawa, since she was sure that she hadn't done anything to irritate Rukawa that day, and definitely did nothing to push him off the edge to make him want to freeze her to death with his death glares (o_Ô;;).

Sakuragi and Mito who were hanging around Tsuki's desk during their lunch break were also puzzled by Rukawa's action, and sudden show of intense emotions.  For once, Sakuragi didn't go pick a fight with Rukawa then.  (Don't think anyone would be stupid enough to go pick a fight with Rukawa under that type of circumstances …  ^_^;)

Throughout the afternoon classes, Rukawa was enveloped with his don't-come-near-me-or-die mood while he ignored Tsuki and all her attempts at trying to get him to talk.  He even ignored Sakuragi when he called him kitsune now and then during the classes.  Finally giving up, Tsuki decided to ignore the fox as well and concentrate on what the teacher was rambling on about in class.

*          *          *          *          *

Just as they were going to start practice that afternoon, Anzai sensei came into the gym together with class 2 – 7's form teacher, Koike sensei.  Everyone stopped what they were doing to say hi to their coach and the unexpected guest.

"Konichiwa Anzai sensei."  "Konichiwa Koike sensei."   They all bowed to the two teachers.

"Konichiwa minna-san.  Ho.  Ho.  Ho."  Anzai sensei replied with his usual good natured laugh.  But Koike sensei on the other hand just nodded at everyone (gees … he's so irritating and impolite isn't he? Hehehe …)

Seeing Koike sensei and knowing that he's the form teacher of Tsuki, Rukawa and Sakuragi, everyone (excluding the freshmen since they didn't know about the 'academic statuses' of Rukawa and Sakuragi from previous year) started to worry about their two star players.

Miyagi walked up to their coach and bowed with respect.  "Sensei, we're just going to start practice.  Now that you are here, please give out instructions when you feel necessary."

"Ho.  Ho.  Ho.  I am very confident with placing you in the instructing position for the training, Miyagi.  But, just before you all start practice today … "  Anzai sensei turned to the players, "We need to talk to Sakuragi, Rukawa and Fujima kondachi."

Upon hearing his name, Sakuragi laughed his trademark and maniacal laugh, stomped over to Anzai sensei and started pulling his chubby chin while everyone sweat-dropped.

"Nyhahahaha … What do you need to talk to the Tensai about, oyaji?"

Hearing his laugh, Koike sensei had a really big X mark showing up on his temple.

"Do'aho!"  (Guess who said that? *grins* :P)

Sakuragi balled his fists and held one up to Rukawa, "Nani, teme kitsune … "

Miyagi kicked Sakuragi's behind not too gently, "Shut up Hanamichi, stop being a disgrace for our team."

"Nani Ryochin?! … "  Retorted an all hyped-up Sakuragi, but before he could say more, Ayako's trusty paper fan stopped his further outbursts.  "Itai!"  Yelped an all teary Sakuragi who was now looking at Ayako with his oh-so-innocent puppy eyes.

Ayako let out a mushroom breath while shaking her head.  The other players did the same (-_-; ~@).

"Okay!  Start today's practice now everyone!"  Shouted Miyagi, while Rukawa, Sakuragi and Tsuki walking over to the two coach/teacher.  Ayako and Haruko also followed the group out of curiosities and concerns.

While the student/player-coach/teacher group exited the gym to find some place to 'talk', everyone back at the gym found it hard to focus on the matter at hand, which was practice.  So all they did were dribbled the ball a bit, and their shootings were absolutely appalling.  But … who could blame them for being so uneasy right?

Outside the gym near the drinking fountains … … …

"Koike sensei had told me earlier that Sakuragi and Rukawa are not doing that well in class."  Anzai sensei spoke softly, his voice full of concern.  Looking at the two star players of Shohoku, "As a consequence of this matter, you two may have to be forfeit your rights to compete in the upcoming IH competitions."

Sakuragi shouted, "What!?  That's preposterous!"

Rukawa on the other hand remained expressionless, except with an eyebrow raised.

Koike sensei finally spoke, his voice filled with sternness, "Because the basketball team managed to take first place in this year's provincial season, the school had decided to give you two another chance, much to my dismay.  But anyways, you two will take a second paper in a week's time in place of the first one.  If you manage to pass this second paper for each of the subjects that you failed, then you are allowed to join your teammates in the IH competitions.  However, if you fail again, you will not be going anywhere.  Do you two understand that?"

Ayako and Haruko were lifted out of their worrying mood after hearing this.  Ayako smiled brightly and bowed politely to Koike sensei.  "Thank you for giving them another chance sensei."

"Yes, doumo arigatou sensei."  Followed Haruko.

The two central characters however were not so pleased with the situation, and both of them snubbed at this arrogantly.

"Ano, what's my position in this?  Don't think this issue has anything to do with me ne."  Tsuki blurted confusedly.

"Aah, Fujima, of course you're involved in this."  Koike sensei smiled.  Although he's ticked off with two of the best players in the basketball team, he's still quite proud of Tsuki, for she was his prized student.  (Tsuki was ranked first in her academic achievements among the sophomores.  ~_~;;)

"Since you are the top student amongst your fellow second year students, and you are a member of the basketball team, I'm assigning you to tutor these two for their exam re-take.  So, starting from today, you'll start tutoring them after practices each day."  Koike sensei announced firmly, yet pleasingly with his choice.

"Nani!?"  This time, Tsuki, Sakuragi and Rukawa all chipped-in in the shouting.

Tsuki was annoyed with Koike sensei's decision.  The least he should do was discuss this with her first.  "Demo sensei, I … … … "

"No buts Fujima, and that's final."  Koike sensei cut in bluntly.  "Okay, now that's settled, I'll leave you back to your training schedule then, ja."

Koike sensei left immediately without turning back after saying that, leaving an infuriated Tsuki, a wordless Sakuragi, and a frowning Rukawa.  Not to mentioned a surprised Ayako and Haruko.

"Okay then, let's get back to practice minna.  Ho.  Ho.  Ho."  Anzai sensei said and turning to enter the gym.

Tsuki growled lowly under her breath.  She was not happy, extremely unhappy about what just happened and the forthcoming tutoring sessions.  She turned and stomped into the gym with heavy steps trying to take out her frustrations on the innocent ground.

Ayako shrugged and told the two players to get back to practice.  She eyed Haruko, indicating her to follow.  But Haruko didn't follow Ayako right away.  She looked at Rukawa worriedly, "Ano, Rukawa-kun … … … "

Rukawa glared at her coldly and walked back into the gym ignoring her.  That hurt Haruko, making her remember what happened during lunch break …

*~*~*~*~*     Flashback         *~*~*~*~*

After Tsuki had told her to tell Rukawa about her feelings for him yesterday before the Kainan game, Haruko decided that it would be the best if she'd did that.  So she confronted Rukawa and confessed her feeling to him on the rooftop of the school building during lunch break.

"Rukawa-kun," Haruko followed Rukawa onto the rooftop.  "Ano, Rukawa-kun, I … can I speak with you for a moment?"  She said finally after she gathered up all her courage.

Rukawa looked down at Haruko (not the down-grading way, he's too tall to look at her without lowering his head).  "Nani shiterunda?"  He spoke in his monotonous voice.

Haruko blushed furiously and took a deep breath, "Rukawa-kun, I … I've been in love with you ever since junior high, ever since the first time I saw you play against our school.  So, can you please tell me how you feel about me?"

She blurted everything out rather quickly since she feared that if she didn't do so she'd lost her courage and run away.

Rukawa looked at her dully.  "Why have you decided to tell me this?  Have you not held your silence for all that time?  Why now?"

Amazingly Rukawa spoke to her civilly.  Haruko looked up at Rukawa and blinked a few times in surprise.

"Sou ka, you have known all these time …"  She mumbled.

"Doshite?"  Rukawa persisted.  To be true to himself, he found that he was rather amused by this sudden confession from the normally quiet and sweet girl (yes, even Rukawa agreed that Haruko was a sweet girl …) since he never anticipated this to happen.  He fought the urge to laugh painstakingly, trying to maintain his expressionless face.

Haruko took another deep breath to call back her courage.  "Ano, why shouldn't I tell you since I like you?  It's nothing wrong in confessing my feelings to the person I like, especially since Tsuki-chan … "

"Tsuki-chan?"  Rukawa interrupted Haruko before she could finish what she was saying.  His face and voice now turning colder by the second, "You said that Tsuki-chan … Fujima told you to confess to me?"

Haruko who was now looking at her feet didn't notice the change in Rukawa.  "Erm, hai … Tsuki-chan said that it's for my own good to confess to you since I won't get anywhere with just looking at you from afar."

Rukawa snorted and turned to walk away.

Haruko ran up aside him, "Rukawa-kun … Ru …"

Rukawa paused in his track.  "Whatever you've just said meant nothing to me."  He said flatly and coldly, then left the rooftop.

Haruko watched Rukawa's disappearing back as he entered the stairwell with tear filled eyes, and her heart aching badly.  She felt as if she's been stabbed in the heart.  "Rukawa-kun … … … "

After the little incident with Haruko on the rooftop, Rukawa came down with a case of severe bad mood.  He kept thinking and screaming silently:  What the does she think she is doing asking another girl to confess her love to me!?  Fujima, you idiot!!!!!!!  You dense idiot!

Therefore, he gave Tsuki the cold shoulder treatment and the silent treatment (as if he talked all the time :P) for the rest of the day.

*~*~*~*~*     End of Flashback          *~*~*~*~*

When they returned to the gym after the 'Koike bombshell', the others were just about to begin a game of seniors versus juniors.

Seeing them back, Miyagi hollered, "Oi, get yourselves ready for a game.  All three of you are in a team with me and Kakuta."

The freshmen wailed in agony upon hearing Miyagi's arrangements.

"That's unfair Miyagi sempai."  One of the freshmen cried.

"Yeah!  How are we suppose to even get any shots in playing against 80% of the starting players!?"  Another freshman exclaimed in disbelief.

The other freshmen began to call out words such as unfair, unreasonable set up, unjust.  Miyagi sweat-dropped at the situation.  But this was quickly settled when Tsuki spoke.

"Miyagi sempai, I'll play with the juniors against your team."  She said in a very flat, cold tone.

Miyagi raised an eyebrow at her request.  "Are you sure, Fujima?"

Tsuki nodded firmly, and then walked over to join the first years.

"What's with neko-chan?"  Sakuragi asked Miyagi as he came up to the captain.  (Yes, Sakuragi-kun did notice the changes in Tsuki … )

Miyagi shrugged, 'Beats me."

"Okay people, let's start the game now."  Miyagi called out to everyone.

When the ball was tossed, Sakuragi and Goto jumped for their team to gain possession.  Although Sakuragi managed to slap the ball out of Goto's reach due to his superior reflexes, the ball ended up in Tsuki's hands.  She estimated the direction the ball will head for when Sakuragi swung his hand to slap it and dashed there just in time to catch the falling ball.

Tsuki with the ball now in her hands started to dribble.  She was very silent and rather withdrawn with her moves compared to her normal self.  This was an indication of her being enraged at the moment, but since no one had seen her like this before, they had no idea what's installed for them.

Tsuki thought furiously:  First it was Rukawa death-glaring me for god knows why, which was a hell lot of fun.  Now, this!  No thanks to those two idiots that I have to sacrifice my car exercising time tutor them!  Great!  Okay, since they raised all the problems, I'm gonna take it all out on them then … by squashing their big stupid egos!

Ending on that thought, she grinned nastily and charged toward the other team's goal.  Rukawa was fast on his feet and came up to block her advances, but he failed terribly.  Tsuki evaded him so fast that he wasn't able to see her movements clearly.  The next to stop her was Sakuragi, and knowing Sakuragi, she jumped as Sakuragi jumped and dunked deliberately in front of the red head.  Everyone was lost for words due to the shock Tsuki just entrusted to them.

"Neko-chan, kimi wa … kimi …"  Sakuragi now feeling humiliated was seen stuttering in front of someone else other than Haruko.

"Yes Sakuragi-kun, I can jump that high, and I can dunk."  She said to Sakuragi cynically.  Turning to Rukawa, she said cruelly, "Don't think so highly of yourself Rukawa, you may be the so call ace of the team, but you definitely do not deserve the title since you are such a selfish and self-centered player." 

(akane runs to find somewhere safe to hide from Rukawa and Sakuragi fans ^_^;;;)

Tsuki walked away from the pair with Sakuragi still gawking in embarrassment and Rukawa balling his fists so tightly in fury that his knuckles showed white.

"Fujima!  I will defeat you one day."  Rukawa hissed at Tsuki clenching teeth and fists.

"Bring it on Rukawa.  I await your challenge any time."  Tsuki said with a meaningful yet nasty grin and turned to leave the court.

"Sensei," Tsuki bowed to their coach, "I don't think I should stay on court further today."

Anzai sensei nodded.  "Thank you Fujima-san, you can rest now for you have done your job well."

"Thank you sensei."  Tsuki walked over to where Ayako was and sat down next to her.

"What was all that about?  Do you know that you just infuriated Rukawa and slapped Sakuragi across his face with what you said?"  Ayako yelped at Tsuki with disapproval.

Tsuki shrugged.  "Infuriated or not, they should wake up from that wake up call I gave them just now."

Ayako's eye widened, "What was that?  Wake up call?"

Tsuki leaned her back against the wall and closed her eyes to shut out everything and everyone:  That felt good, at least I feel good after doing that.  Those two ahos are hurt by what I said and did, but it's for their own good, and I feel way better now that I've taken out my frustration on them through that as well.

A contented smile crawled up Tsuki's face turning the corners of the red lips up.

For the rest of the game that day, Rukawa and Sakuragi both played like they've never played before, with renewed flames for victory and to improve themselves further.  Therefore, they pushed themselves further than before, not holding back any doubts.  

Tsuki opened her eyes now and then to check up on how both sides were doing, and the satisfied smile remained on her lips for the rest of the day.  The freshmen were having a really gnawing time playing against the seniors, but it'd be an unforgettable experience for them.  Also, she's pushed those two off the edge and they looked like they'd storm over and kill her any time, but she couldn't care less, since it'd help them improve their plays.

At the end of practice that day, everyone was totally drained of energy.  Tsuki walked up to the sluggish players and smiled sweetly at them.

"Good game everyone."  She commented, and earned dagger glares from everyone.  She laughed the offense off.  

Turning to Rukawa and Sakuragi, "Anyways, since you two are dead tired now, we'd start our little tutoring meet from tomorrow instead of today.  And, I think the best way to do this is if you guys stay over at my place for the week so I can watch over your studies thoroughly.  So, go home tonight and ask for your parents' approval on this and pack some clothes to bring over."  She paused a little, "You two okay with this then?"

Rukawa scowled at her and Sakuragi rolled his eyes and ignored her.

Tsuki considered the scowling and ignoring as a yes to her proposition, she clicked her fingers.  "Yosh!  That's settled then, I'll see you guys tomorrow in class then.  Ja minna-san."

She strolled out of the gym casually and went to get change to go home.

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_akane's tea house …_

_Ano …  I think I shouldn't be here at this moment, I should be running away from all you readers out there, trying to avoid all of you from attacking me because of this chapter :P hehehe …  I know I've crushed Rukawa-kun and Sakuragi-kun in this chapter, but don't you think that those two do deserve the lesson? Hehe …*runs to hide again …*_

_Anyways … that's the 9th chapter, and if time permits, I'll have the next chapter up soon :) ._

_Okies …Ja minna-san!  Reviews please??? *I'm begging here*  ~_~   Flames are welcomed as always~   Cheers~ =^.^=_


	10. A Promise Made Amidst the Study Hour

**Chapter 10 - A Promise Made Amidst the Study Hour**

"Ohayou minna."  Said a cheery Tsuki as she stepped into the classroom.

About half of the class's populations, the male population returned her greetings, whereas most of the females glared daggers at her (need to say more?  Rukawa fans~).  She smiled brightly at everyone, even those girls who glared at her.

Sitting herself down at her seat, she turned around and flashed a big bright smile at Rukawa.  (Surprise, surprise, he's not asleep!!!  ^o^)

"Ready for the study camp, Rukawa-kun?"

"What are you so happy about?"  Rukawa frowned and mumbled.

Tsuki just smiled at him.  She then moved her head forward and looked to the right.  "Ne Sakuragi-kun, how about you?  Ready to start studying tonight?"

Sakuragi growled a little.  "Yare, yare … … … Whatever."

Tsuki smiled to herself at their responses, couldn't blame them for feeling off about the situation.  She herself could remember how ticked she was yesterday when she was assigned as their tutor.  Another scene she could remember from yesterday was the expression on her Kenji-nii chan's face when she told him about this, his expression was priceless!  She grinned to herself when she thought of this.

The day went pass rather quickly and so did practice.  Tsuki waited for Rukawa and Sakuragi outside the gym.  Soon, the two showed up walking side by side with glum faces, and were not at each other's throats for once!

Tsuki bounced over to them cheerily, "Iko, Rukawa-kun, Sakuragi-kun."

"Hai … … …"  Both grumbled.

When they reached Tsuki's car, and were putting their 'luggage' into the trunk, Tsuki let out a disbelieving gasp.  "Sakuragi-kun, why have you brought your sleeping bag with you?"

"Do'aho."  Commented Rukawa, rolling his eyes skywards.

"What?  How'd I know if you've got sleeping gear available for us or not!?"  Sakuragi exclaimed sheepishly.

"Okay, don't worry about it since you've brought it already… … … iko."  She gestured them to get into the car.

Rukawa and Sakuragi squeezed themselves into the front and back bucket seats.  Once they've settled in, Tsuki started the engine and they headed for the Fujima residence.

*          *          *          *          *

When they drove onto the driveway of the Fujima mansion, Rukawa raised his eyebrows.  Seeing this, Tsuki smiled, "Never thought that we'd live that close to each other huh, Rukawa-kun."

Rukawa turned to look at Tsuki.  "Why didn't you tell me?"

Tsuki shrugged.  "I didn't think there's a need to."

(Remember, the Rukawa's and Fujima's residences were just a few streets from each other :))

As she maneuvered her car towards the garage, she saw Maki's red RX-7 parked on the driveway and Kenji's S2000 on a tow truck!?

She thought:  What the!?

She quickly parked her car in the usual spot and jumped out, heading toward the tow truck leaving Sakuragi and Rukawa still sitting in her car.

"What happed!?"  She gasped wide-eyed.

Kenji, Maki, and the tow truck driver turned to look at her.  In the mean time, Rukawa and Sakuragi also got out of the car and headed toward the commotion stirred up by Tsuki.

Seeing Tsuki, Kenji sweat-dropped.  "No idea… hehehe…"  He said uncomfortably.

"Okay, I'll send you the bill for this in a few days."  The tow truck guy said and climbed into his truck then drove off.

Tsuki glared at Kenji, "What do you mean no idea?"

"I don't know, the engine just won't start.  I guess there's just something wrong with it…"  Kenji said feebly.

Tsuki continued to glare at Kenji, "You dare say there's something wrong with your car?  A brand new car that's been on the road for what, two months?!"

Kenji nodded sheepishly.  Maki decided to help his friend out a bit, "Mou Tsuki-chan, the car really can be started.  We've tried our best to get it to start but with no success."

Tsuki now glared at Maki as well.  Maki and Kenji immediately turned chibi under her glares and not to mention sweat-dropping furiously.

Tsuki walked over to the S2000 and popped the hood up.  She checked for all common mishaps that can happen to find none.  She turned to Kenji, "Where's the keys?"

Kenji handed her the key to his car.  She moved around and sat in the driver seat, putting the key into the keyhole and turned the ignition.  The engine didn't start, just like Kenji and Maki had told her.  She frowned a little, but when she looked at the dash panel and saw the fuel gauge … she fumed.

She turned to look at both Kenji and Maki menacingly and spoke with a very flat and cold voice.  "You two bakas want to take a look at the fuel gauge!?"

Kenji and Maki looked at each other and gulped:  We're in for a thrashing …

Both of them knew how up-tight Tsuki could be when it came to the topic of cars.

They both moved towards the car slowly and gaped as they saw the fuel gauge.

"It's empty …"  Kenji and Maki both squeaked.

Tsuki got out of the S2000 and threw her hands in the air in hopelessness.  "I can't believe you two!  Both of you have the brains to get straight A's in your studies and in basketball, yet you don't have the brains to figure out that the car's out of fuel and cars can't start without fuel!?"  She shouted at both of them out of disbelief and hopeless rage while the two older boys remained chibi with their heads lowered.

She then turned to Kenji.  "Especially you Fujima Kenji!  You've been around me long enough to know better than that!  How can you call yourself my cousin and know nothing about cars!?"

(Ooh… a bit too harsh on Fujima and Maki?  Or is it just right? *grins evilly* hehehe…)

Rukawa and Sakuragi both gulped while sweat-dropping at what they saw.  They could imagine how she's pound them to pieces if the two of them didn't pass their deferred exams next week.

Kenji and Maki were now beet red.  They remained chibi and silent due to embarrassment.  Tsuki gave-up and rolled her eyes as she let out a disheartened sigh.  She walked over to her car and took her school and gym gear out motioning Rukawa and Sakuragi to grab their things and follow her.

*          *          *          *          *

When the two Shohoku players stepped into the huge house, Sakuragi couldn't stop his curiosity from getting the better of him.  He kept oo-ing and ah-ing as Tsuki brought them to the guest rooms and showed them around.  Rukawa on the other hand remained as aloof as usual.

As they went round to the back of the house, Sakuragi yelped and pointed at the basketball court.  "Basketball court!  You have a basketball court at home?!"

Tsuki smiled at his astonishment and nodded.  Rukawa's expression livened up upon hearing Sakuragi's yelping and looked toward the direction in which the red head pointed.

"You guys can use it any time you like, but …"

Both turned to her as she spoke.  When she lingered on the 'but', Sakuragi looked at her with utmost eagerness.  Rukawa, well, Rukawa was Rukawa, as pokerfaced as ever.

Tsuki grinned evilly, "But you'll have to finish your study schedule before you can touch the court with your feet."

"Nani …"  Sakuragi began to wail.  Rukawa just looked at her blankly, but his cerulean eyes were gleaming with a tint of annoyance.

Maki's voice came from behind them, "So, these two are here for the study camp huh?"

The three Shohoku players turned to look at Kenji and Maki who'd just arrived wearing t-shirts and shorts.  Kenji was holding a basketball in his hands, his intention clearly stated.

Tsuki nodded in answer to Maki's question.  "You guys gonna play?"  She asked Maki and Kenji as she looked at the setting evening sky.

Kenji answered, "Yeah, just for a while."  He threw the ball at Maki, "First one to 10 points?"

Maki nodded in agreement and the two headed for the court.  Sakuragi was ready to follow them when Tsuki spoke, "You two better go and freshen up and get ready for dinner.  We'll start your tuition straight after dinner in the library."

Tsuki tugged at Sakuragi and Rukawa's sleeves and pulled them into the house with her.  Sakuragi went in unwillingly, turning his head to look at the playing pair on the court longingly.  Rukawa also took a glance at the pair before he let himself be pulled away by Tsuki.

*          *          *          *          *

Tsuki, Sakuragi and Rukawa retreated to the library to start their tuition session after dinner; while Kenji and Maki went to Kenji's room to complete their reports (they're in the same university and faculty).

"Okay,"  Tsuki gestured the two boys to sit at the large oak desk, "Here's the timetable I'd made up for this week."  She took a piece of paper from a folder seated on the table and laid it in front of the two.  Written on it was a charted schedule regarding which subject they were to be tutored on, and on which day.

Sakuragi groaned, "This is silly, why do we have to do this?"

Tsuki whacked the red head.  "Because you were bright enough to fail your exams!"  She exclaimed.

"Itee…  You're starting to act like Ayako."  Sakuragi commented rubbing his head.

Tsuki rolled her eyes and pointed at the schedule.  "Since chemistry is the last exam you will be taking, we'll start with chemistry today, and revise it on next Thursday for your exam on Friday."

With that, she slipped the schedule back into its folder and took the chemistry text book from the top of the pile of books that was on the desk.

"OK, let's see how your chemistry foundation is."  She pulled a few pieces of scrap paper from one of the paper trays and scribbled the names of a few common elements and chemicals on it, then handed the paper to the boys asking them to write down the chemical symbols for them.

After five minutes, she collected their answers and started fuming when she saw Sakuragi's answer.

"Baka!  How can carbon's symbol be Ca!?  Ca stands for calcium!  And, H2SO4 is Sulfuric Acid, not hydro-sodium oxide!"  She whacked Sakuragi on the head again.  (It was basic chemistry they're talking about… -_-;)

On the other hand, she was surprised with Rukawa's answers.  He got them all right!  (Sugoi~ Rukawa knows his chemistry!  Hehehe… :P)

"Okay, let's try this again."  Tsuki took in a couple of deep breaths and started teaching them both from scratch.  Although it didn't seem like Rukawa required this, she thought it'd be for his own advantage if they did that.

The night rolled on, and Tsuki finally had had it with Sakuragi.  Even though Rukawa kept falling asleep, she could still manage to awaken him and continue.  But with Sakuragi, she almost pounded him into nothingness literally due to frustration.  Therefore, after glaring and whacking Sakuragi for one last time,  she stormed out of the library and barged into Kenji's room.

"Kenji-nii chan, you have to come and help me deal with that baka!"  She pulled Kenji out of his room before he had a chance to rebut.  Maki just stared at the cousins as that happened and erupted into a laughing fit.  After laughing for who-knows-how-long, Maki decided to finish off the joint report that he was supposed to complete together with Kenji.

When Tsuki returned to the library with Kenji, Rukawa was asleep again and Sakuragi was doodling rubbish on the piece of paper he had in front of him, which was the quiz sheet Tsuki conjured up for them.

"Kenji-nii chan, you deal with Sakuragi, I've had enough of him tonight."  She threw a death glare of her own at Sakuragi and went over to sit next to Rukawa, whacking him on the head to wake him at the same time, and she avoided the expected fist that flung at her.

She eyed Rukawa warningly before she went back to tutoring him on the chemical calculations and drawing of chemical reactions.  Rukawa frowned slightly but still pulled back enough concentration to listen to what Tsuki was talking about.

With Sakuragi however, Kenji was not having as much progress with him.  But Kenji was stern enough and showed his coaching characteristic which made Sakuragi succumbed and started listening to whatever he was teaching him.

It was around 11:30pm when Maki came around and said he was going home.  Kenji saw him out and came back to the library to continue the tutoring afterward.  Sakuragi and Rukawa were both attempting a new set of questions that Tsuki made up not long ago.

When Kenji entered the library, he found Tsuki leaning on the desk already asleep.  The weirdest thing happened at that moment.  Rukawa picked up his team jacket and placed it over Tsuki's shoulders and a gentle smile crept up his face softening his features.  (I told you it's weird!! Hehe…)  Kenji's and Sakuragi's eyes bulged like they were going to fall out and detach themselves from the sockets when they saw this.

The same thought appeared in both Kenji and Sakuragi's mind:  Is that the Rukawa we know!?

When Rukawa turned back to his work, the other two boys looked at each other with a huge drop of sweat hanging on their temples.  Both didn't say anything about the situation, and they didn't know what to say about it either, so they kept quiet.

Another hour or so went by and Sakuragi had also fallen asleep on the desk, but this time Kenji didn't smack him awake since he's already done his quiz and the results were pleasing.  Kenji turned to Rukawa who was looking at the sleeping Tsuki with tender-filled vision.  Kenji smiled to himself.  He knew it was rude to break that little magic bubble of Rukawa, but he decided to break that silence and have a talk with the super rookie.

"Rukawa."  He spoke softly, but loud enough to grab hold of the other's attention.

Rukawa turned to Kenji and looked at him questioningly.

"You like Tsuki don't you, Rukawa."  Kenji stated rather than a questioned.

Rukawa raised an eyebrow and spoke monotonously as usual, "You don't approve of it?"

"No, but I'd rather it be you than Sendoh."  Kenji smirked knowingly.

"Sendoh?"  An unnatural flame flashed across the sapphire eyes of Rukawa.

Kenji nodded.  "Sendoh's made his intention very clear lately."

"What do you mean 'lately'?"  Rukawa's tone turning colder by the second.

"Oh, he just comes over for basketball on the weekends."  Kenji said apathetically.

"Since when did he start doing that?"  Rukawa asked, his tone now cold enough to freeze the cup of hot cocoa in front of him.

Getting the reaction he wanted, Kenji smiled warmly at him.  "Relax Rukawa, Sendoh's not getting anywhere.  Well, at least not yet anyways."

Rukawa glared at Kenji, but Kenji disregarded him and continued, "Honestly Rukawa, Sendoh isn't getting anywhere close to what he intended on because Tsuki told him she's just interested in being his friend, not his girlfriend."

Rukawa calmed a little after hearing this.  "He asked her directly?"

Kenji nodded.  "Hai.  And Tsuki told him straightforwardly about how she felt also."

Rukawa nodded.  This time, Kenji's tone turned more solemn as he spoke.

"Rukawa, I don't think you know enough about Tsuki to pursue her heart yet."  He looked up and saw Rukawa throwing icicles at him with his glare.  But he didn't mind that, he smiled, "Don't get me wrong Rukawa, but you have no idea what Tsuki went through to regain her old self.  To say that is an understatement actually since I've got the feeling that she still hasn't recovered fully yet."

Rukawa looked puzzlingly at Kenji.  "What do you mean?  I thought she's recovered from the injuries that accident gave her?"

Kenji sighed heavily.  "So you've heard about that accident huh?"

Rukawa nodded.

"It's not the physical injuries that I was talking about,"  Kenji paused and looked Rukawa straight in the eyes, "It's the psychological damage.  She lost her parents in that accident, and it hurt her immensely.  Looking at her now I bet you would never think of her as someone who will close herself off to the world no matter what happens, right?  Well, she did just that.  She closed her heart off the world and encaged herself in her sorrows after my uncle and aunt's death.  We were so scared that she'd never come back to us and be like that forever."

Rukawa gasped at what he heard.  He could feel the pang tugging at his heart because he felt so sorry for Tsuki.  At that moment, he wished that he could switch places with Tsuki and let her be free of these cruelties.  (Awww~  how sweeet~~~  ^_^)

Kenji's eyes were filled with pain as he spoke of Tsuki's past, and Rukawa was shocked.  Then, Kenji looked off into the open and smiled gratefully as he continued to speak, "You know, we really had to thank that little kitten.  It was that kitten that brought Tsuki back to us."

"Kitten?"  Rukawa queried.

Kenji looked back at Rukawa and smiled.  "Hai, it was a kitten that brought her out of her shell.  I could still remember that day.  I'd pushed her out into the hospital's courtyard for a little sun when out of the blue a baby kitten jumped onto her lap.  The kitten looked at her and meowed.  It was at that very moment that Tsuki smiled, her first smiled after the accident.  God it felt so wonderful to see her smile again!  She picked up the kitten gently and nuzzled against its soft fur then looked up at me.  The first words she said to me were: 'Gomen ne, I've worried you all.'  She smiled so sweetly then, as tears fell from her eyes.  I was so overjoyed that I hugged her for so long then rang my parents shouting out my happiness to them across the line from my cell phone."

Rukawa gently stroked away the strands of playful hair that had fallen on to Tsuki's cheek.  His eyes were so soft at that point in time that anyone could've drowned in them if they looked.  "She's a fighter."  He said softly, his voice full of tenderness.

Watching Rukawa then Kenji realized what a gentle person Rukawa's was:  He has such a gentle soul yet he covered it up with the all the ice he built around him, making everyone think that he is such a tough cookie, weird.

Throwing that thought away, Kenji agreed with what Rukawa said.  "Yes, she is a fighter, but she also has a fragile heart after that incident.  And, that is why I said earlier that I'd rather it be you who win her heart rather than that clown Sendoh."

As soon as he had spoken, Kenji realized he actually meant what he said sincerely.  He really did want Rukawa to be with Tsuki.  Why, he didn't know, but it felt right to see them together.

Rukawa suddenly looked at Kenji most seriously as he would in a game when he faced an opponent.  "I will not hurt her.  This is a promise to you, her and me."  He stated determinedly.

Nodding, Kenji smiled.  "You'd better make sure you uphold what you promised, if not I'll make sure that you pay for your actions of hurting her, and I'll see to that myself."  He grinned nastily at Rukawa when he ended the sentence.

Rukawa stood up and smirked at Kenji.  "You won't have the chance to do such things since I won't let that happen."

Rukawa then picked Tsuki up in his arms gently without waking her.  "Where's her room?"

Kenji smiled at the picture Rukawa and Tsuki presented.  "Down the hall, last one on the left."

Rukawa nodded in gestured, thanking Kenji for the information he provided and turned to walk away.  Amazingly, Tsuki wasn't woken by Rukawa.  Instead, she snuggled closer to him.  She found herself a more comfortable spot then let out a satisfying sigh, and a sweet smile crept on to her face.  Rukawa looked at her and smiled ever so gently at her actions.

Just before they left the library, Kenji called out to Rukawa, "Rukawa, tell her how you feel.  She can be really dense about certain things some time."  And he smirked playfully at him.

Surprisingly Rukawa replied, "Don't I already know?"  And his voice trailed off as he carried Tsuki to her room.

Rukawa's smiled wryly.  His thought at that moment:  Don't I already know?  She's dense enough to ask another girl to confess her feelings for me.  Sigh …

Rukawa placed Tsuki on her bed gently and tucked her in.  Tsuki turned on her side to face Rukawa who was kneeling beside her bed with the smile still hanging on her lips.  

Rukawa smiled:  She looks so peaceful, just like an angel when she's asleep.

Before he left her room, he bent over and placed a soft kiss on her lips (more like he 'stole' a kiss from her … hehehe).  "Goodnight, my angel."

He switched off the lights when he reached the door.  He turned to look at her once more before he left and noticed that the crystal figurines in the glass cabinet by the dresser were shining brightly as the lights of the cabinet bounced off the beautiful stones.  It was as if the crystals were smiling at him in gratitude for caring so deeply about their owner … … …

Meanwhile back in the library, Kenji took a thin text book and smacked Sakuragi hard on the head waking him.

"Go to your room and sleep you baka, I don't want your drool all over my desk!"  Kenji said sarcastically.

Sakuragi woke up to the wake-up call Kenji gave him and stumbled to the guest room allotted to him.  He fell asleep again as soon as he slumped onto the bed.

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_akane's tea house … … …_

_So … what do you think minna-san?  :D  Hope you liked it ^_^_

_Just a little spoiler …__  Rukawa's gonna confess his love to Tsuki in the next chapter, but, will she accept him!?  *grins*_

_Anyways … __Reviews please?????  Onegai shimashita!!!  *bowing and begging on both knees*  ^_^;;_

_Ja matta ne~  ^_~  _


	11. Running Away From Feelings

**Chapter 11 - Running Away From Feelings**

The next morning Tsuki woke up at 6:00am to the sounds of her alarm clock.  She sat up on her bed and stretched.  But all her movements stopped when she saw their team's jacket on her bed.  

She blinked thinking:  How come my jacket's on my bed?  I'm pretty sure that I wasn't wearing it last night.

She took the jacket into her hands and when she saw the name on it, she knew she was right about not wearing it last night.  Also, at that moment, she remembered that she fell asleep in the library last night, so someone must've carried her to her room while she was asleep.

As that thought formed, she blushed.  The thought of Rukawa carrying her to her room in his arms made she cheeks heat up.

She slapped herself mentally:  What are you thinking about baka?  Stop thinking nonsense!  (Told you she's dense sometimes.  *sighs*)

She got out of bed and pulled the curtains.  Sunbeams poured into the room pushing the darkness away instantly.  It was another beautiful but warm summer day.

Tsuki stretched herself some more in front of the large floor window before changing into her swimming trunks for her daily morning swim.  Before she exited her room, she gathered Rukawa's jacket into her arms and took it with her.  When she walked pass the guest room occupied by Rukawa, she knocked.  But there was no reply, so she turned the knob and went into his room uninvited.

Amid the dimly lit room, she could make out the sleeping figure of Rukawa on the large bed.  An evil grin crept its way up her face.  She walked over to the bed and placed the now neatly folded jacket on the bedside table.  Then she bent over Rukawa and shouted in his ears.  "Ohayou Rukawa-kun!  It's time to wake up!  You're late for school!"

Rukawa shot up at the piercing noise, and glared at the perpetrator.  Once he saw that it was Tsuki who was standing in front of him, he calmed his temper slowly before saying, "What time is it?"

"About 6:15 in the morning."  She replied with a playful smile.

"Oh."  And he slumped back into the bed.

Tsuki frown at him.  "Oi, wake up!  If you sleep anymore you're gonna be late for school, and I'm definitely not going to wait for you."

Rukawa growled with his face in the pillow.

"You can go and practice downstairs … … …" Before Tsuki finished her sentence; he shot up again and jumped to his feet.

Tsuki smirked:  So, that's how to get him out of bed in the morning.

She went over to the floor window and pulled the curtains apart and the room was lighted instantly.

Rukawa saw her clearly then and gulped at her attire.  Tsuki was wearing her bathers and a thin cotton robe, which didn't do a very good job in hiding her devilish figure.

"Hayaku Rukawa-kun, I'll go and wake Sakuragi-kun so you two can practice together.  Ja matta ne."  And, she dashed to the next guest room to wakeup the red head.

All Rukawa did was stood there for a while then finally snapping out of his reverie, he changed into t-shirt and shorts and headed for the basketball court downstairs.  He met up with one grumpy looking red head in the hallway.

When Rukawa and Sakuragi came downstairs, they were greeted by one of the maids.

"Good morning sirs."  The maid greeted them politely.

Rukawa being used to this type of treatments in his own house just nodded in gesture.  But Sakuragi however felt rather awkward about the situation and mumbled, "Good morning."

The maid soon went on her way and continued with her duties.  Rukawa headed in the direction of the backyard and the basketball court, with a flustered Sakuragi trying to catch up behind him.

Tsuki was already swimming the fourth lap in the pool when the two finally appeared in the backyard.  When she finished the lap she was doing, she stopped and pulled herself up slightly leaning against the pool's wall.

She saw the two boys standing close to the pool and waved.  "Hi guys."

"I thought nekos hate water?"  Sakuragi loomed over Tsuki and commented smugly.

"Do'aho."

"Teme kitsune!"  He turned and glared at the raven-haired boy.

Rukawa ignored him and walked towards the basketball court.

"Oi, matte yo Rukawa!"  He shouted at the super rookie and rushed to follow him.

Tsuki just rolled her eyes at both of them and continued with her swimming.

Kenji was already at the court practicing when the two younger boys showed up.

"Ohayou, Rukawa, Sakuragi."  Kenji said to them with a smile after his three-pointer went into the hoop.

"Ohayou."  Replied the two younger players.

"You two woke up early.  This should be rare for you ne, Rukawa?"  Kenji commented teasingly.

Rukawa snorted and grabbed the ball Kenji was practicing with and stepped onto the court, dribbling it.

Kenji smiled:  Now where has last night's gentle Rukawa disappeared to?  Oh, never mind, he'll show up again sooner or later.

"Since I've already been here practicing for the last hour or so, you two can have the court to yourselves, I'll just stay here and watch."  Kenji said as he walked to the bench on the sidelines grabbing his towel and wiped off his perspiration.

"Oi kitsune, one on one?"  Sakuragi asked invitingly.

"Do'aho, you start."  Rukawa threw the ball over to Sakuragi.

Sakuragi grabbed the ball, started dribbling and assumed an offence position.  "First one to fifteen wins ne?"

"Hn."  And Rukawa assumed his defence position.

Kenji walking over to the pair and said, "I'll umpire your game."

The two younger players glanced at Kenji and nodded.  So the game began, and ended half an hour later with Rukawa winning 15 – 10.

At this time, Tsuki had finished her swim and paced over to the court leisurely.  She sat herself down on the bench next to Kenji's towel and water bottle, and watched the last couple minutes of the game between her team mates.

"Good game you guys."  She commented cheerily and encouragingly, giving them the thumb's up.

Hearing her voice, all three boys turned to look at her.

Kenji instantly pulled her hair and said solemnly, "You should know better than to hang around in your wet swim suit!  Now get inside and have a hot shower before you catch a cold."

Tsuki yelped a little.  "Itee, don't pull my hair Kenji-nii chan."

Kenji now started to glare at her.

"Ok, ok, I'm going now."  With that she scrammed inside the house and ran to her en suite for that hot shower while the boys looked on flabbergasted with her speed.

"She's fast."  Blurted Sakuragi.

Kenji looked at him oddly, "Ano, she's your team mate Sakuragi, thought you've noticed her speed ages ago?"

"Do'aho."

"Kitsune!  Teme kono yarou!"  Sakuragi headed for Rukawa all puffed up, and within a split second, the two were ensued in one of their pointless fights again.

Kenji drooped his shoulders and let out a mushroom sigh.  "Some things will never change."

However, he decided not to let the two younger boys overdid their little exercise since it might resulted in them being late for school, he took the basketball from where it was resting on the ground and threw it at the two boys.  The ball hit the sides of the two boy's face.  "Bull's eye."  Smirked Kenji.

Before the two infuriated Shohoku players had a chance at getting even with Shoyo's coach, he's already out of the court and into the house.  So the two so called rivals sneered at each other and went back to their rooms to freshen up and got ready for breakfast and school.

At practice that day, everyone was itching with curiosity about their star players' study camp over at the Fujimas'.  Unable to contain their curiosities further, Ayako and Haruko pulled Tsuki away from the practice routine and asked her about it in one corner of the gym.

"How did it go, Tsuki-chan?"  Ayako asked the question while Haruko looked at Tsuki with zeal.

Tsuki smiled at them, "It was ok I guess.  Rukawa's not as bad as we thought he was, he caught on really fast with the things I taught him.  As for Sakuragi, he's a bit of a concern.  But luckily I dragged Kenji-nii chan into the tuition session and he can deal with Sakuragi easily, so guess there shouldn't be too much problem with Sakuragi either."

"Sou ka."  Haruko let out a relieved sigh, followed by Ayako.

"So the two idiots of the team are learning huh?  Good for them then."  Smiled Ayako.

Tsuki nodded.  "Hope they can go through the deferred exams smoothly."  She paused and her expression changed devilry, "If they fail again, I'm gonna to see to it personally that they're pounded into thin pulps!"

The three girls exploded into laughter after Tsuki's comment, then grinned at the thought among themselves.  In the meantime, everyone on court turned to look at the girls with huge sweat drops hanging from their temples.

When practice finished that day, Tsuki was waiting for Rukawa and Sakuragi outside like the day before.  However, the two boys did not come out together that day.  Rukawa was the one who came out first with the red head falling behind because of cleaning duties.

Tsuki who was leaning against the N1's hood smiled up at Rukawa when he approached her.

"Mou Rukawa-kun, thanks for last night."  She said softly, blushing a little as she lowered her head when the picture of her in Rukawa's arm flashed across her mind again.

"Iie, don't mention it."  Rukawa said with his features softened slightly at hearing this.  He thought she'd never mention it to him … … …

For the next few minutes, the two of them just stayed the way they were in total silence.  There was a certain something in the air that felt like electrical sparks.  But this soon ended when Sakuragi entered the scene crooning his 'ore wa tensai' song (^_^;).

"Yosh, let's go then, we've got a lot to cover in tonight's study session."  Tsuki said enthusiastically as she climbed into the driver's seat.

Rukawa and Sakuragi groaned a little at hearing that then got into the car.  But without the red head's knowing, Rukawa glared icicles at him for a split second when he crashed in on him and Tsuki.  (:P)

*          *          *          *          *

The week flew by quickly and it was time for the two boys to take their deferred exams.  Throughout the exam week, all the Shohoku players were enveloped in an overcastted mood worrying for their team mates.  When the exams were finally over, they all held their breath as the sensei announced the results.

"They passed with flying colours."  Yamada sensei declared cheerfully in place of the now vein-popping Koike sensei.

Koike sensei's thought:  How did these two ahos do so well in the deferred exams!?  Looks like Fujima did her assigned job very well, too well in fact.  

(Anyone who feel like bashing up Koike sensei… … … be my guest!  \_/)

All the players who were waiting outside the staffroom (which was every single player of the team) jumped for joy upon hearing the announcement.  It was like a piece of lead was lifted from their chest!

"We're going to the IH as a completed team!"  One of the freshmen shouted happily.

Rukawa let out a silent sigh of relieve when no one noticed.

"Yes!"  Sakuragi exclaimed.  "What did I tell you guys?  The tensai will have no problem with the exams!  Nyhahahaha … … …"

In a split second, Sakuragi was swatted on the head by Ayako's trusty paper fan.

"Itai!"

"Who was it that put all of us through that cliff-hanger dilemma?"  Ayako glared at Sakuragi with her hands on her waist.

"But the kitsune has a share in this too.  How come you only hit me and not him as well?"  Pouted Sakuragi.

Ayako moved a hand to her temple and started massaging it; she could feel a headache coming on.  The others sweat-dropped at Sakuragi.

"Everything is settled.  Now, let's go practice and put everything we've got into it!  We're going to win the IH competition and come out as number one this year!"  Miyagi hollered.

"Hai!"  Everyone replied in unison, followed by, "Shohoku FIGHT!"

This rowdiness soon earned the basketball team sideway glances filled with irritation from the senseis in the staffroom and surrounding areas.  They all turned chibi and hurried out of the administrative area, heading for the gym.

Now that everyone was back at practice in full swing, the day ended with every player huffing and panting for air.  But Tsuki was still as cool and calm as usual amidst all the exhausted players.  The reason being, she was coaching the freshmen throughout practice, so she didn't break a sweat.

Before everyone went to the lockers to get change and home bounded, Tsuki announced a welcomed event.

"Before you go, I have something to announce."  She paused to see if she's got everyone's attention before she continued further.  "We are holding a BBQ party for our teams at my house tomorrow evening.  And by teams, I mean Kainan, Shoyo, Ryonan and us.  So, tomorrow's practice will be held in the morning at my house, and then you guys can stay on for the BBQ."

Everyone cheered at the news.  They'd been practicing hard to ready themselves for the IH, so a little fun was just what they needed to eased the tensions a bit.

Ayako stepped in and took over.  "Also, next we'll be heading to Sendai for the practice match with Kyomura high school, who came first in their prefecture.  So don't forget to bring in your travel fees to me tomorrow, ok?"

"Hai!"  They answered with voices filled with joy.

"OK, Ayako sempai will hand out a slip to everyone with my address on it, so don't be late tomorrow."  Tsuki ended cheekily with a wink.  "Also, we've got a pool so bring along your swimming gears if you wish to swim tomorrow."

All the players exploded into jovial laughter, and hence the end of another day … … …

*          *          *          *          *

The next morning was just like any other morning at the Fujima residence.  The maids and butlers were busy about with their duties, whilst Kenji and Tsuki did their daily morning exercises.  The only difference was that the skilfully crafted steel gates that close the Fujima mansion from the public was wide opened for the welcoming of its young masters' guests.

Tsuki had set the team's practice at ten that morning and since it was not even nine yet, she slipped into her work suit, popped the hood of her N1 open, and started to work on the modifications she had been dying to make on the N1.  She set her laptop on a small work worktable next to the N1 and switched it on.  She opened the necessary softwares to aid her in tuning her car and worked happily away on the N1 while humming the tune she loved.

Time sure flies when you're happy.  Before she knew it, the Shohoku players had arrived and were shown in by the butler.  The butler showed the players to the garage where Tsuki was working on her car rather than taking them inside because Tsuki had asked the maids/butlers to bring her team mates to her when they'd arrived.

"Miss Tsuki," the butler said respectfully, "Your guests are here."

Tsuki stunned by the sudden intrusion knocked her head on the N1's hood as she straightened herself.  "Itai!"  She yelped rubbing her head.  Rukawa frowned mentally at her actions while remained silent and expressionless.

"Daijoubu Tsuki-chan?"  Haruko quickly went over and held Tsuki checking her for any nasty injuries.

Tsuki turned to face everyone waving her hand and smiling clumsily, "Iie, daijoubu, daijoubu."

"You sure?  That was quite a bump you had."  Ayako voiced with concern.

"Don't worry, I'm fine."  She beamed at everyone.  "Ohayou minna."

"Ohayou."  They replied together and then they all laughed at Tsuki, except Rukawa, but his lips did curve a smidgen.

Tsuki's face went blank as she was clueless about why they were laughing.

"Ano, what are you guys laughing about?  What's so funny?"  She asked her team mates in bewilderment.

Haruko who was standing beside her held a hand up to cover her mouth as to control her laughter giggled as she spoke, "It's … … … hehe … … … it's your face, Tsuki-chan … … … hehe … … …"

"Naze?"  Tsuki continued to ask blurrily blinking her eyes.

Rukawa smiled silently to himself and thought:  She looks so cute with that expression on her.

Haruko wiped a finger across Tsuki's face lightly and showed the result to her.  "This."

Tsuki looked at Haruko's grease smudged finger and shrugged, sticking her tongue out cutely at the same time.  "Guess I've got grease all over my face huh?"

Everyone nodded.  This time when the players erupted into laughter again, Tsuki joined them.

After everyone regained their composure, Tsuki stepped around her car to the back of the garage and grabbed some tissue from one of the shelves to clean her face.  With her face still slightly dirtied by grease, she looked at Sakuragi and Rukawa.

"Ne, Rukawa-kun, Sakuragi-kun, since you two know where the court is, can you bring the team there?  I need to go clean up first."

Rukawa nodded.  Sakuragi however, immediately spoke boisterously, "Leave it to the tensai neko-chan!  Nyhahahaha … … …"

Everyone sweat dropped.  Tsuki smiled at the red head friendlily while shaking her head a little.

"Everyone follow the tensai!"  Sakuragi shouted and led the way with the other players following behind him.

"Do'aho."  Rukawa stated flatly.

Amazingly, Sakuragi didn't rebut Rukawa.  He ignored the raven-haired boy and walked on.

Tsuki quickly cleaned the gears up and got out of her work suit.  She was only a few steps behind the group.

Rukawa suddenly looked back to check on Tsuki, but what he saw almost gave him a blood nose.  Tsuki was wearing a spaghetti strap top and a pair of faded jeans shorts that was very short.  He could see her belly button!  And that figure of hers was such a killer!  He quickly reverted his eyes back to the group in front of him and pushed any 'impure' thoughts that were bubbling up in his mind away as fast as possible (:P).  

His heart raced like it never had before, not even a frustrating and tiring game could make his heart raced like that.  Taking in deep breaths silently, he finally managed to his heart's normal beating rhythm.  With that, he decided not to look back at her anymore to save himself from getting a blood nose or worse, a heart attack.  (Poor Rukawa?  Hahaha~ :P)

When Tsuki joined the others on the basketball court after she'd cleaned up, she's wearing a loose t-shirt and a pair of biking shorts, which were what she always wore to practice.  Therefore, Rukawa didn't end up with having any blood noses or heart attacks (*grins* :P).

Renshu went by quickly and the team gulped down the appetizing lunch the Fujima's cook prepared.  After lunch, the team were commanded by Kenji about how to set up the things for the BBQ later that afternoon.  So, all the boys were busy at work whilst the three girls sat under the shaded gazebo watching them (favouritism … … … I know, but Kenji was extremely protective of his cousin, so Tsuki didn't have to work and together with her, Ayako and Haruko got away too.  Hehehe…).

"Ne Haruko-chan, how come Akagi sempai didn't come with you this morning?"  Tsuki asked as she took a sip of her cooling ice tea.

"Onii-chan said he'd come together with Kogure sempai and Mitsui sempai later.  Besides, he had a tuition class to attend to this morning."  Haruko explained.

"Sou."

"Hey Tsuki, last time you mentioned that you have a collection of crystal figurines right?  Can we take a look at them?"  Ayako asked curiously.

"Sure," Tsuki jumped up from her seat and gestured them to follow her.  "Iko, it's in my room."

The three girls thus left the backyard and went up to Tsuki's bedroom.

"Kirei!"  Gasped Ayako and Haruko as they looked at the gleaming rocks.

"They must be expensive."  Ayako said with a marvelled tone.

Tsuki smiled.  "Crystal is the love of my life!  I don't know why, but I've love them ever since I was a young child.  So, every time I see a piece that I like, I'll buy it regardless of its price."

"But some of them must've cost you a fortune."  Haruko said disbelievingly.

"That is why I am always grateful that I have the ability to purchase them when I wanted."  Tsuki said softly with a smile that was somehow painful when looked at.

"Tsuki-chan … … …" Ayako trying to say something to ease Tsuki of her heart's burden knowing the accident Tsuki went through.

Tsuki shook her head and smiled brightly at Ayako and Haruko.  "Daijoubu desu ka!  I'll be fine."

The return of the familiar Tsuki who was always cheerful and optimistic lifted the spirits of Ayako and Haruko.  The three girls sat in Tsuki's room and chatted until the boys had readied the backyard for the party.  They had to be 'invited' out of the room by a rather irked Kenji after all the guests had arrived.

*          *          *          *          *

"Sakuragi sempai!"  Hashima Senko practically threw herself at the red head when she saw him and she followed him around throughout the duration of the party.

When he finally shook her off his tail for five minutes, he was trapped by Tsuki and got teased.

"Looks like you've got a big fan out there Sakuragi-kun."  Tsuki smiled cattishly.

The red head snorted and boomed, "I never asked for one!"

Tsuki covered her ears exaggeratingly.  "Ok, ok, no need to get all hyped about it."

"Neko-chan," He peered at her dangerously through half opened eyes, "be a nice little neko and skip back to whatever you were doing and don't mess in my personal matters!  Especially my love life!"

Tsuki burst out laughing at him disregarding his hazardous gaze.  When she stopped, he was still death-glaring her, but she turned to look at him with solemnity that overwhelmed Sakuragi, making him silent.

"You really are the do'aho Rukawa said you are, Sakuragi.  You're always so tight up around Haruko-chan, witless to tell her your feelings.  Yet with a girl who shows her feeling for you through her loud actions, screaming out: 'I'm in love with Sakuragi Hanamichi!'; you snubbed at her.  Have you really thought about your feelings for Haruko?  Is that feeling for her genuine love or is it just a silly infatuation?  Think about it Sakuragi, if not, you'll be hurting both girls and yourself, especially yourself."

Tsuki walked away from the dumbfounded Sakuragi after she finished her sentence, leaving him to think about what she had told him.  Unknown to both of them, behind them hidden in the shadow was Haruko.  Haruko gasped in disbelief when she heard the conversation between Sakuragi and Tsuki.  After calming herself, she decided to have a talk with Sakuragi.

Stepping out of the shadow, Haruko called Sakuragi softly, "Sakuragi-kun."

Sakuragi swished around quickly and stared at Haruko with shock.  "Haruko-san!  You … … … you've heard us?"  He said in a dull monotone similar to Rukawa's.

Haruko nodded.  "Let's talk shall we, Sakuragi-kun?"

Sakuragi let out an audible sigh.  "Hai … … …"

Off they went to sit down at the bench by the miniature golf-driving ranch, where no one could disturb them.  They talked … … …

Meanwhile, Rukawa was looking for Tsuki.  He was itching to tell her about his feelings for her.  Then he saw her as a Latin tune began to play over the speakers.  She was dancing with Kenji, they were dancing Lambada!  Almost everyone present at the party, i.e. ex and current players from Kainan, Shoyo, Shohoku and Ryonan were gawking at the dancing pair!  Rukawa's pale face paled a few shades further and his sapphire eyes darken with rage.  In fact he was fuming as he watched the cousins danced.

Kenji and Tsuki moved in beat with the music, their bodies touching.  It was a fast beat dance which was sexy and hot, expressing the lusts of the dancers.  Therefore, making everyone swallowed hard and gawking with eyes as wide as barrels.

(Ano… … … does everyone know what Lambada is?  I hope you do :P  If not, guess you'll just have to go look it up if you're interested or just be satisfied with what I described here, hehehe…  ^_^;)

When the music ended, the dancing pair also stopped.  Everyone whistled and cheered, actually, it was more like 'howled'.  Kiyota shouted above everyone, "En core!  En core!"

Others joined in with Kiyota's shouting once he began.  But Tsuki and Kenji just smiled at their audience and shook their heads.  They were too tired to dance another.  But before the cousins could say anything to the crowd, Tsuki was pulled backward by a strong hand.  She stumbled a few steps before regaining her balance.  Looking up to see who that rude person was, she was startled and allowed him to pull her away.

Rukawa felt like someone's hand was gripping his heart so tightly that he couldn't breath.  At that instant he realised and knew how being jealous felt like.  Yes, he was jealous.  Jealous of Kenji because he was dancing with Tsuki, even though he knew that Kenji only loved her like a little sister.  But he just couldn't control himself and his emotions.  So he dashed over and pulled her away quite forcefully as soon as the dance ended.

Tsuki saw the fire of anger flashing in Rukawa's eyes.  It was the first time she'd seen such strong emotions in those usually serene sapphires.  In fact, it was the first time that she'd seen Rukawa with feelings!  Therefore, when he pulled her away, she was too stunned by the fact that 'Rukawa's not emotionless' to fight his grip.

Rukawa didn't stop until he and Tsuki reached the back of the pool house.  Although everyone saw him pulling her away, they did not dare to follow since they all felt Rukawa's anger and warning when he stepped in front of them.  His body language shouted don't-come-near-or-try-to-follow-me-or-else.  So everyone remained rooted at their places.

When Rukawa released Tsuki's hand, she gasped.  "What was that about, Rukawa-kun?"

'Kaede."  Rukawa said in a soft yet still anger-filled tone.

"Huh?  Nani shiterunde?"  Tsuki thought she heard wrong.

Rukawa's lips twitched in slight impatience.  "I said, call me Kaede."

"Ano," Tsuki looked up at him confused, "Nan de?"

"Because I want you to."  He replied as calmly as he could.

"But why?"  Tsuki continued naively.

With that, she blew Rukawa off his cool (guess anyone would've exploded under this situation, hehehe :P).  He suddenly grabbed Tsuki arm and pulled her to him, and before she had time to react to what was happening, Rukawa kissed her hard on the lips, as if by doing so he could get rid of all his jealousy and frustration.

Tsuki's eyes widen to the sudden shock.  When her brain started to function again, she tried to push Rukawa away with all her strength but to no avail.  At that moment she felt helpless but not disgusted.  Rukawa's kiss softened with time and crystal tears dropped from Tsuki's eyes as fear began to form in her heart.

At that moment, an anxious thought flew across her mind:  Please kami-sama, don't let this turn out to be what I'm afraid of the most.

Tasting the saltiness of Tsuki's tears, Rukawa quickly lifted his head up and held Tsuki's face in his hands while whispering words of comfort to her softly.

"Shh, don't cry my angel.  Crying doesn't suit you."  He said with a voice so tender that Tsuki felt herself melting in them as he ran a finger under her eyes to wipe the tears away.  "I know you're angry with me for what I did, and I am sorry, I didn't mean for it to be like that."

Tsuki blinked at him.  The Rukawa in front of her now is nothing like the Rukawa she knew.  It was a person who's not cold or icy at all, he was a person full of warmth and love.

"I…I…"  Tsuki was lost for words.  She lowered her head so she won't be looking into Rukawa's eyes and thus avoiding the tendency to drown in the softness of those dark blue sapphires.

"Shh, you don't have to say anything, but will you please hear me out?"  Still holding her, Rukawa said with utter softness.

Tsuki did not budge from her current position and remained quiet.  Rukawa took that as a yes from her, so he continued, pouring his heart out to her.

"I know this has come as a shock to you," he said with slight self mockery, "But, the truth is the truth.  I have feelings for you, feelings that I have not felt for anyone or anything before.  It even surpasses the passion I have for basketball."  He paused a little to see Tsuki's reaction.

Tsuki looked up at him slowly.  "But, why me?"  She asked confusingly.

Rukawa smiled.  "Have you ever heard of any reasons for why a person loves another?"

Tsuki shook her head.

"Then, why are you asking me why?  There is no explanation or rationale to it.  I fell for you and that's that, nothing more, nothing less.  So, can you give me a chance to be your knight in shining armour?"  When he finally asked the question he set out to ask her that night, his smile brightened, making his eyes sparkled under the starry night.  To him, it felt like a large weight had been lifted from his chest.

Tsuki's heart knotted at Rukawa's words.  The fear she felt from the beginning finally took form.  She set out to be everyone's friend from the beginning and she never thought that one of her friends would eventually fall for her.  She never wanted this to happen!

She turned her head away from him and mumbled ruefully, "Sorry, but I can't."

She ran away from Rukawa who was left stricken by her words.  She didn't dare to look at Rukawa because she was afraid she'd see how much she'd hurt him.  She didn't stop until she was safely inside her room, not even when Kenji called out to her when he saw her running towards the house.

Leaning on the closed door of her bedroom, two strings of silent tears fell from Tsuki's crystal blue eyes.  "Gomen ne Rukawa-kun.  I can't, I really can't.  I don't want to feel the heartbreak again, not again … … …"

She finally broke into tears and fell to the floor hugging her knees, trying to cry away the pain she felt in her heart.


	12. Argh! What Should I Do?

_Disclaimers:  I don't own SD or Initial D, which is really really sad ….  *sigh*  _

_A/N:     For those of you who are following this fic out there…sorry for the lateness in updating.  (akane was out of the country for quite a while :P hehehe…)  Anyways… here's chapter 12, hope you guys enjoy this.  =^.^=_

NB:      …    Thoughts

(…)      akane's ramblings

"…"     character's speech

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**Chapter 12 - Argh!  What Should I Do?**

Every member of the Shohoku bball club gathered in front of their school's gate on Monday morning.  Ayako was conducting a role call to make sure that everyone's present.  In the middle of the role call, someone's cell phone rang.  Rukawa reached into his pockets and pulled out his cell.  Everyone stared at Rukawa as he was doing so, Rukawa has a cell phone?  Who rings him anyways?  He doesn't talk!  (^_^;;)

"Moshi moshi."

From the other end Kenji sounded a little worried.  "Rukawa, Tsuki's taken off for Sendai on her own.  She's driving there, so tell Anzai sensei this.  Also, can you please keep an eye out for her?  She hasn't been herself since that night, so please just look out for her?"

(Wondering why Kenji has Rukawa's cell number??  He got it from Rukawa after the BBQ party of cos!  Hehehe… *grins*)

"Don't worry, I will."  Rukawa replied softly.

"Arigatou Rukawa.  Sou … matta ja."

"Ja."

Rukawa ended the call and put the phone back into his pocket.  He turned to face Anzai sensei that'd just arrived.  He bowed courteously, "Sensei, Fujima sempai from Shoyo had just called to inform us that Tsuki-chan had gone to Sendai ahead of us, so we don't have to wait for her."

"Ho.  Ho.  Ho."  Their coach laughed his trademark good-natured laugh.  "Sou ka?  Then we shall leave for the train station now, as we do not want to miss our train.  Ho.  Ho.  Ho."

Ayako commanded for the team's attention energetically with her trusty fan (^_^;).  "OK!  Let's go then everyone, we have games to play when we get to Sendai, so liven up and start our journey to victory!"

"Hai!"  Everyone replied.  "We're the strongest!  Fight Shohoku, fight!"

"Ho.  Ho.  Ho."  Anzai sensei was pleased with how spirited his team was.

o        o        o        o        o

When they boarded the train, Rukawa was arranged to sit next to Sakuragi.  To everyone's surprise, those two so called mortal enemies weren't going for each other's throats.  This is all because of Rukawa's silent treatment towards the red head.  Every time the red head tried to provoke the kitsune, the kitsune just remained silent and ignored the red head.  So, after five minutes or so, Sakuragi gave up and leaned his head against the window and dozed off.  Meanwhile, Rukawa was lost in his own little world.  He thought about what Kenji told him after Tsuki's rejected him.

~*~*~*~*~     Flashback         ~*~*~*~*~

Kenji sensed something was wrong seeing Tsuki running into the house as if something's after her life.  He left the chattery (I made this word up :P hehehe…) bunch of Sendoh, Maki, and others to look for Rukawa.  He found the Shohoku Ace sitting on the bench next to the pool house staring into the open blankly.

"What happened Rukawa?"  Kenji asked as he sat himself down next to the younger boy.

Rukawa didn't stir from his position and remained silent.  Kenji didn't rush him into saying anything, he just waited.  After the long silent pause, Rukawa finally spoke.

"She rejected me."  Rukawa said in coldly, but there's no hiding of the pain he was feeling in his cerulean eyes.

Kenji noticed how badly Rukawa was hurting.  He really loves her. He smiled.

"She just needs some time to digest your confession.  Give her some time to think things over, and everything will be fine."

Rukawa looked up at Kenji confused.  "What do you mean?"

Kenji sighed then smiled.  "Remember that I told you how Tsuki closed herself to the world after she lost her parents?  Well, there's something else that I didn't tell you then, which could've been the other reason for her to shut herself up."

Rukawa stared at Kenji.  "What do you mean?"

"Well, Tsuki was in love once.  She was so in love with that person that she was willing to give up her dreams for him."  Kenji said unhappily.

Rukawa could feel his jealousy and anger flaring up by the second.  "What happened?"  He said through clenched fists and gritted teeth.

"The guy was an American and was her senior.  He definitely had the looks and family backgrounds to make any girl brand him as prince charming.  Because of my uncle's position in the company he was working for, he knew that guy's parents through work and quickly became close friends with them.  Both families will meet regularly for weekend BBQ or other formal and informal occasions, and Tsuki finally fell for the guy after his persistency in chasing her, and she fell heavily.  It was such sweet romance that you'd think it's impossible to see it in reality, but then came the horrid truth.  The guy only courted Tsuki because of a bet he had with his friends.  He didn't love her at all.  The prize of the bet was a Porsche 911 GT coupe."  Kenji's tone was extremely disgusted at that point.

Rukawa was shocked at hearing this.  How can anyone be so cruel to play with another's emotions?  He shook his head in disbelieves.

Kenji glanced at Rukawa and continued.  "Yes it's true Rukawa, that guy played with Tsuki's feelings.  He crushed her heart.  Tsuki was so hurt that she cried herself to sleep everyday and cried again when she woke.  She was always in agony when she was dreaming too.  That's why her parents decided to take her to Boston for a family trip, hoping that it'll lighten her up and allow her the environment to recover from her heartaches.  But the worst situation possible happened."

Rukawa gasped in shock.  "The accident."

Kenji nodded.  "The accident happened when they were on their way to the airport.  Both events happened so closely to each other devastated her, and she broke down mentally."

Rukawa was speechless.  Kenji looked at the kitsune-eyed boy and patted him on the shoulders.  "Don't force her to answer to your feelings at the moment, give her some time to think over things slowly, and use your love to heal her heart.  She will see how much you love her eventually."

"But what should I do?  What can I do?"  Rukawa asked weakly.

"Just stay by her side and be her friend for now, and support her whenever she needed supports.  In other words, be her shoulder to lean and to cry on.  Your gentleness and your love will be the key to her heart."

Rukawa looked at Kenji in bewilderment.  "Your crazy right?"

Kenji laughed.  "Rukawa, just be yourself, you don't have to hide behind your icy façade in front of me; I see the gentleness of your soul through how you treated Tsuki."  He paused and continued, "If you really want to be the key to her heart, you have to forget about your icy mask.  Understand?"

Rukawa's face was somewhat twisted upon hearing this.  He didn't know how to relent his iciness, he's been cold for so long.  But his heart told him otherwise.

Seeing the kitsune's reaction, Kenji laughed some more.  "Just try okay?"

Finally sighing, Rukawa gave in and nodded.  "Hai."

Kenji patted the younger boy on the shoulders once more and pulled him up from the bench.  "Common, this is a party, so let's enjoy it."

Rukawa was led back to the party mutely.  He was wracking his brains about how to reach Tsuki's heart.

~*~*~*~*~     End of Flashback          ~*~*~*~*~

What the hell am I going to do?  Lose my ice façade … that's easy for him to say! Rukawa sighed for the nth time, and shook his head slightly.  Whatever, I'll think of something when I see her later.  And…he fell asleep with that thought (-_-;).

o        o        o        o        o

Tsuki swerved in and out of traffic on the highways, which got her on the receiving end of some rather outraged drivers.  She ignored them however and increased her speed by a notch, leaving those drivers to eat her N1's dust.  Sure she was speeding way over the speed limit, but she still knew what she was doing and definitely not driving recklessly (guess that's only from a racer's POV?  Hehe…  ^_~).

She turned to the arrows pointing the direction of Sendai as her cell phone rang.  "Fujima."  She answered flatly through her hands free kit.

"I'm so hurt Tsuki, how can you be so cold towards me?"  Kenji whined playfully.

Tsuki rolled her eyes but smiled.  The stoic expression she had on since she woke up that morning was gone with that smile.

"Kenji-nii chan, you know I could never be cold to you.  Not to a clown who always make me laugh."  She teased.

"Nani!?  Clown!?  How dare you call me a clown Fujima Tsuki, I'm not that hentai Sendoh!"  Kenji said with playful fury.

Tsuki laughed.  "Yare yare … so… why've you called me?"

"To make sure that you're not driving recklessly."

"Me driving recklessly?"  Tsuki said in shock, "You should know what I'd never drive recklessly to endanger myself or other drivers on the roads."

"Yeah, I believe you and pigs can fly."  He snorted sarcastically.

"Gees, such sarcasms, and here I thought that you're a nice guy.  Tsk tsk tsk…"  Tsuki replied in equal sarcasm.

Kenji laughed.  "Anyways, just checking up on you that's all.  Also, promise me to kick those Sendai basketballers' asses!"  He finished meanly.

"Don't worry, I will."  Tsuki laughed at Kenji's childishness.  "Anyways, I'm getting back to my driving; I'll call home when I get there."

"OK, take care of yourself then.  Ja."

"Ja."

Tsuki ended the call and she felt her mood lifting for the better.  She smiled.  Concentrating back on the roads, she floored the accelerator and her N1 zoomed through the traffic.

o        o        o        o        o

One of the toughest race courses in Japan can be found at Sendai.  Tsuki drove pass the course as she headed towards her destination, Michiba High School.

Wonder if I'd get a chance to go through that course while I'm here.  A playful smile crept onto her face on that thought.

Michiba High School has a basketball team that's been seeded top for the past ten years in the Sendai prefecture.  However, every year they always met up with the one of the strongest teams such as Sannoh and Kainan during the IH, therefore they never had a chance at getting into the top four and needless to say, even the top eight in the IH tournaments.  This year, one of Anzai sensei's ex-student had taken up the vice-coaching job at Michiba, thus through this ex-student came this one week training camp.

Tsuki arrived at Michiba a couple of hours ahead of her team.  She sat in her car and surveyed Michiba High briefly.  Nice surroundings.  She especially like the main entrance that was decorated with tall sakura trees on both sides.  It'll be so nice in spring when the sakuras are in full blossom.

She had the urge to step out of her car and go wondering in the foreign school, but senses kept her back.  It's not polite to wonder in other's school without proper invitation, therefore she decided that she should grab some lunch first then come back to Michiba and meet up with her team mates.

Driving into the town centre of Sendai, she found a nice little western styled café just off the main roads.  After scouring ten minutes for a parking space, she found one that was just across the road from that café.  She armed her car's security system and noticed a few nicely 'done up' cars around.  She shrugged mentally, Must be the local street racers.

Steeping into the cosy little café, the pleasant aroma of roasted coffee beans and freshly baked bread and cakes filled Tsuki's olfactory system.  She took in a couple of breaths and walked to one of the empty table next to the window and sat down.

A waitress with a friendly smile greeted her once she's sat down.  "Irashaimasen."  The waitress handed her a simple menu.  Tsuki skimmed through the menu and decided on having the soup of the day, which was creamy mushroom served with freshly baked rolls and a cup of mocha.  The waitress took down her order and went into the kitchen.

While waiting, Tsuki look about her surroundings.  The café was small but had a warm homey feel.  It was decorated with mahogany coloured floorboards, whilst the table and chairs were made of pine and silver coloured iron.  Strong colour contrast, but they blended together nicely.  The glass vases on each table were filled with one stem of gerbera, each a different colour, simple yet elegant.  When looked at, the gerbera seems to be smiling at you.  The walls were decorated with framed paintings of various flowers or fruits, but one painting stood out amongst the rest.  It was a large painting of an open field under the setting sun.  This was hung on the wall behind the cash register.  Looking at this painting, Tsuki felt her heart open up making her feel contented and happy.

Tsuki's order soon came and she thanked the waitress.  Just as she was about to dig in, a group of males in the late teens, early twenties walked into the café.

"Hey, wonder who that N1 out there belong to."  One of the males said.

Another from the group said, "Who knows, probably some rich kid who only know how to show off their car and don't know how to use it."

Tsuki raised an eyebrow at the guy's comment but decided to ignore them.  Ch, what do they know?

She returned to enjoy her scrumptious lunch while the group of males continued ranting on about this and that, but she was really irritated when she heard them said that her car's just another street car out there with no harm.

Too bad I don't race anymore, if not, I'll let you guys taste true defeat.  Tsuki screamed mentally.  She put down her spoon and stood up to pay for her meal.  She lost her appetite and previously happy mood.

She paid for her meal and bought a fresh wholemeal roll for later when she regains her appetite.  Walking out, she paused for a split second when she neared those males and stared daggers at them, and then she continued to walk out.  All the guys sitting at that particular table sweat dropped since they had no idea why this drop dead gorgeous girl stared icicles at them.  But they found out soon as they watch her crossing the road and disarmed the security system of the N1.  

Tsuki opened the door and looked up glancing at those males who'd humiliated her and her N1 unintentionally.  She shot them another icy glare and curved her lips into a menacing smile.  After strapping herself into the bucket seat securely, she started the engine and rev it a little to bring up the temperature.  Putting on her sunglasses, Tsuki put the gear into reverse and reversed out of the parking spot in the most perfect J-turn those guys had ever seen, and then sped out of there.  Those guys who were sitting in the café got off their seats and stared in the direction the N1 took.  What shocked them more was that the N1 went into a drift effortlessly and turned the corner not far away from where they were.  Their eyes bulged in disbelief.  

How can anyone reverse out of that tight spot that easily and flawlessly?  How can anyone take such a corner so easily and put a car into drift at such low speed?  Who the heck is that girl?  …These were the thoughts going through their minds at that moment.

"That should show you chauvinists not to comment on others so thoughtlessly again."  Tsuki said aloud with a satisfied grin.

She drove around town for a while and found a park where she decided to stop and have her bread roll at.  There's still some time left before she had to head back to Michiba and meet up with her team mates.  She parked at one of the shady spots under the tree and sat back to her favourite tunes, eating her bread roll little by little pushing it down with the bottle of spring water she took with her from home.  

Momentarily, she was lost in her own little world where nothing's a worry.  But reality is still reality.  She sighed with satisfaction at what she's just enjoyed.  This sigh was followed by a frown.  A frown caused by her knowing that she still had the one problem that she needed to solve desperately.  The problem with her friend and team mate, Rukawa Kaede.  She thought back to that faithful day when Rukawa had confessed to her and groaned.

What have I done?  I must've hurt him really badly; anyone would be hurt by what I said to him.  Worse still is that I haven't tried to rectify my wrongs but running away and avoiding him.  But…what can I do?  I really don't want to feel the heartache again…

She slummed onto the steering wheel and rested her forehead on it.  She thought about the last couple of days.

I was in shock after he confessed. Thought one.

I'm been trying to kick out the stress and awful feeling because of what he said and what I said to him by almost pushing my poor car over it's limits the last two nights on Kanagawa's mountain pass.  The result?  It didn't work. Thought two.

Argh!!!  What the hell am I suppose to do?  Kami-sama, give me a sign or whatever to direct in the right direction please?  Thought three, which ended with her lifting her head away from the steering and looked up into the skies.

But…no signs, no nothing from kami-sama up there.  She sighed again, for the nth time that day.

Guess the only thing I can do is to talk to him again.  Talk him out of this crazy idea of his that is! She smiled weakly on that, That is, if he listens…

o        o        o        o        o

As Tsuki pulled up in front of Michiba, her team mates had just arrived also.  Stepping out, she waved at them.  "Hi guys."  The Shohoku members waved back and smiled in acknowledgement.

Tsuki took a bow in front of Anzai sensei.  "Gomenasai sensei, I didn't ask for your approval before taking off alone instead of travelling with the team."

"Ho.  Ho.  Ho.  It's okay Fujima kondachi, as long as you get here safely then there is nothing to worry about.  Ho.  Ho.  Ho."

"Arigatou sensei."  She bowed again deeply in gratitude.

Anzai sensei smiled at Tsuki gently like a grandfather to his grandchild, then patted her shoulders lightly.  He then turned to his team and announced, "Let's go inside and meet our ally."

"Hai."  Everyone replied eagerly.

"Ho.  Ho.  Ho."  Anzai sensei led the way as he laughed his trademark laughs.

"Sensei!"  A tall male about thirty years old shouted at the Shohoku members as they entered the Michiba gym.  The guy ran towards them then bowed deeply with full courtesy at Anzai sensei.  "Sensei, I'm honoured to see you again."

"Ho.  Ho.  Ho.  Tachibana, it's nice to see you again too."  Anzai sensei said softly, and offered his hand to his ex-student.

Tachibana Naoki took his ex-coach's hand and shook it full-heartedly.  "I'm so glad that you'd agree to come to train with us sensei, it'll be a great experience for me and out players."

"Likewise Tachibana, likewise."

Anzai sensei then introduced his team to Tachibana.  "These are my team members, the Shohoku basketball club."

Tachibana scanned the new faces quickly and smiled at them.  "Please follow me and I'll introduce the Michiba team to you all."

They followed the vice-coach of their soon to be opponent into the gym.  Tachibana gathered the Michiba team members and they started their introduction.

"Watashi wa Kobayashi Ensuki desu, Michiba's captain."  A boy about 180cm stood out from the Michiba camp said.  He then pointed at members of his team, naming them.  "This is Itsuki Makoto, vice-captain of our team; Hayashi Konosuke, Matsushita Jun, and Sugai Masashi.  Including myself, we are the starting line-up of my team.  The rest of my team mates are … Yoroshiku"

After Kobayashi had finally ended with his introduction, it was Shohoku's turn to introduce themselves.

"Miyagi Ryota, captain.  The rest of our starting line-up are Rukawa Kaede, vice-captain; Sakuragi Hanamichi, Goto Suya, and Kakuta Satoru.  Also, Fujima Tsuki, our other vice-captain who plays when she feels like it and when we need bailing out."  Miyagi ran through the player list briefly and ended with, "Doumo yoroshiku."

Kobayashi then shook hands with Miyagi.  "I look forward to our games in the next few days."

"Likewise."  Miyagi said with a cheeky grin.

"I'll show you to your quarters now and you can rest for the rest of the day.  Tomorrow will be our first game, so I don't want you guys to feel tired then."  Kobayashi said teasingly.

"Teme!  We don't …" Sakuragi began one of his outbursts again, but was stopped soon by Ayako and her trusty fan.  "Itai!  …"  (Hana-kun, please behave yourself?  Pretty please?  *akane's begging here!! *  ~_~)

Everyone sweat dropped.

"Ano, can I ask a question?"  Tsuki stepped up in front of Kobayashi.

Kobayashi was stunned by Tsuki's looks.  She's beautiful! "Aa… y… yes?"

Ignoring his stuttering, Tsuki smiled.  "You see, I drove here and I'm wondering if there's any car park available for me to park my car at here."

Kobayashi nodded a few times and swallowed hard.  "Y… yes there is.  You can, err… use the staff… staff's car park, since it's summer vacation, and most of the staffs are… are on leave."  He said while blushing.

Tsuki beamed at his answer.  "Great!  I'll go and move my car into the car park later then.  Thanks."  She turned back to her team mates and stood next to Haruko to continue with their chat earlier.

Kobayashi coughed a few times to regain his composure whilst the rest of his team mates tried very hard to contain their laughter and the Shohoku team, well, they couldn't care less, so they just busted out laughing.  Rukawa was an exception of cause, since he's staring daggers at the older boy.  (*snickers* suffer Rukawa? :P hehehe…)

After the little commotion, the Shohoku players were led to their quarters by Kobayashi.  They grouped themselves into fours to share the rooms since each room can accommodate four persons.  Before Tsuki went into the room she was sharing with Ayako and Haruko, she said softly to Rukawa, "We need to talk.  Meet me at the main gates at eight tonight."

Rukawa smiled and watched her entered the room.  He felt a heavy weight has been lifted from his chest.  At least I don't have to be the one to make the first move.  *phew* He walked on and into the room which he was sharing with Miyagi, Goto and Yasuda.  (You think they'd allow Rukawa to share a room with Sakuragi!?  Not in a million years! :P Hahaha~)


	13. Beginning

_Disclaimers:  I don't own SD or Initial D, which is really really sad ….  *sigh*  _

NB:      …    Thoughts

(…)      akane's ramblings

"…"     character's speech

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Chapter 13 – Beginning…**

She'd arrived early.  He's probably still at dinner with the others. 

Tsuki leaned against the lamppost before the main gates of Michiba.  Closing her eyes, she felt a light summer night's breeze caressed her face.  The light rustling of the sakura leaves created a subtle yet dolce melody.  Just while she was enjoying the concert provided by nature, the sound of light footsteps flowed into her ears.  She opened her eyes and turned to the source of the sound.  A silhouette of a tall, lean figure can be seen standing on the shadowy, sakura filled path.

Tsuki straightened herself and took a deep breath.  "Hi."

"Hi."  The silhouette slowing became the figure of a boy as he stepped into the soft beam of the lamp.  A gentle smile curled his lips.

Seeing him in person made Tsuki lost for words.  She doesn't know how to start 'the talk' she asked for.  Scrambling for words, she lowered her head and blurted, "I'm sorry for hurting you."

He stepped closer and held her by the shoulders gently.  "You don't have to apologize.  It was my fault for being so unexpected.  I should've waited a little longer before telling you my feelings."

Tsuki looked up and saw his soft blue orbs.  "Rukawa-kun…"

"Shh, you don't have to say anything, I understand."  The raven head said as he placed a slender finger onto Tsuki's lips to stop her words from flowing.

The clearest and brightest sapphires. She thought as she drowned herself in his eyes.  The finger he laid on her lips sent tinkling shivers down her back.  They felt nice…

"Tsuki, I won't force you to do what you don't want to.  All I want you to know is that I'll always be here for you, to be your friend and your shoulder to cry on at times of need.  So, don't pressure yourself to make decisions because of my brashness, and definitely don't your dare think that you've hurt me with your words."  Rukawa spoke in such a way that it was not Rukawa (maybe our dear Rukawa-kun's possessed by a ghost!?  :x).  His voice was softer than a whisper, yet audible.  Emotions were carried into Tsuki's heart by his soft, soothing baritone.  "And…  I'll wait; I'll wait till you're ready to love again."

Tsuki embraced him.  This startled our ice block for a second before he returned her hug.  She buried her face in his chest.

"Arigatou Rukawa-kun, honto ni arigatou."  She mumbled.  Rukawa smiled a smile of relief.

She pulled herself away from his warmth slightly and looked into his eyes.  His embrace was so warm.  Yes, it was warm and it felt so right to be held by him.  Does this mean that I…  Could it be?

She began to speak with absolute sincerity as a tear slide down her face.  "I don't know why, but I think I have feelings for you too Rukawa-kun.  It's just that they're not solid enough for me to make any conclusions, also, I…  I'm really scared of feeling that unbearable pain again.  I really don't want to go through that torture again…"  Her head lowered as she spoke the last word.

"I know," Rukawa wiped her tear away with the gentle strokes of his finger.  "I know what you've been through."  He said with a croaked voice.

Tsuki smiled weakly, "Kenji-nii chan told you what happened didn't he?  I was a fool wasn't I?"

He nodded.  "Yes he did, and he told me because he loves you.  And, you're not a fool, you're the smartest girl I've seen and know."

Tsuki lowered her head slightly.  "…"  She paused a little then looked up again, this time her glassy blue eyes filled with not sadness or worry, but with playful curiosities.  "Why did you choose me Rukawa-kun?"  Her lips curled into a beautiful smile.

Hearing her question, Rukawa sighed heavily.  "No reasons, my heart told me you're the one and I'm following my heart."  He smiled feebly.

Putting a finger to her cheek and tilting her head to one side, a slinky smile plastered her face.  "Mou, could it be of my looks or my intelligence, or was it my skills in basketball that drew you to me?"

Rukawa blushed.  "Aho."  He muttered.

Hey, teasing this walking block of ice is fun! Tsuki's smile turned more cheeky at the thought that sprang into her mind.  "Ne Rukawa-kun, so which one is it?"

"…"

"Oh, c'mon you can tell me." 

Rukawa sighed and started to walk in the directions of their dormitories.  Tsuki tagged alongside him and kept on nagging him to answer her question, but he remained quiet.  When they reached Tsuki's room, he bent down and kissed her on the forehead.  She blushed.

"Good night and sweet dreams, neko-chan."

She hit him playfully.  "Since when did you start calling me neko like that baka aka ozaru?"

He smirked.  "Since now."

Tsuki pouted cutely at his answer.  "I'll get you for this Rukawa Kaede."

"Anytime neko, anytime."  His grin grew bigger by the minute.  "And, call me Kaede from now on?"

"Mmm…  How 'bout Kae-chan instead?"  She asked him back.

He raised an eyebrow at her and shrugged.

"K, then I'll call you Kae-chan from now on."  She smiled happily.

He smiled back at her.  "K…"

"Oyasuminasai Kae-chan."  She said softly.

"Oyasumi."

Tsuki smiled at him again then turned the knob of door to her room and went in.

Meanwhile, behind one of the hedging along the sakura path of Michiba, Sakuragi, Ayako, Miyagi and Haruko were dumbfounded by the conversation they unintentionally eve dropped upon.  They stared at each other wide-eyed and gasped together, "OH MY GOD!"

The Ayako turned to Haruko in full worry alert.  "Haruko-chan, are you ok?"

Haruko smiled weakly at her sisterly senior.  "Hai sempai, don't worry about me."

"Haruko-chan…"  Sakuragi muttered.  He could see the pain was killing her from the inside because her normally warm and happy brown eyes were now filled with sorrow.

Haruko tried to pull a happy smile but it turned out lop-sided.  "Don't worry minna, I'll be fine.  We all knew that Rukawa-kun was never interested in me, so it's not that big a deal to see him and Tsuki-chan together.  Besides, they make a charming couple."

"Haruko…"  Ayako sighed then hugged her tightly and warmly.  "Daijoubu!  You'll find your soul mate one of these days and I guarantee that he'll be someone way better than Rukawa, ne?"  She winked at the younger girl playfully.

Haruko smiled a genuine happy smile this time.  "Yeah!  I'll find someone who's a million times better than Rukawa in the future, and definitely not a person who's an icy block of ice like him."  She ended her comment with her tongue sticking out cutely.

Miyagi looked at Sakuragi and they both grinned.  "Yosh!  We'll start a 'manhunt' for Haruko-chan when we get back to Kanagawa."  (o_Ô;)

Sakuragi nodded in agreement, then added, "If any of those guys don't pass our requirements, which are good looking as the tensai, smart as the tensai … ITAI!!!"  Everyone present sweat-dropped and he was hit by Ayako's fan before he got to finish his declaration.  (^_^;;)

"Urusai baka!"  The Shohoku captain shouted while sweat-dropping.  "Let's go girls, we don't know this baka."  Ayako immediately nodded her head to agree with Miyagi's statement.  She pulled Haruko along as she stood up and made her leave with Miyagi.  This left our tensai the only person left, squatting behind the hedging holding the smoky bump on his head … … …

o        o        o        o        o

Days passed quickly and it was the last day of their training camp at Michiba.  The last two games played between Shohoku and Michiba had ended in draws with each winning once on narrow margins.  Tsuki had sat out of the last two games, but she decided to play in today's.  Therefore, she replaced Goto's shooting guard position while Goto replaced Kakuta as the power forward.  But this arrangement was only for the first half of the game where Tsuki did her usual trick of observing and not shooting.  Then came the second half, in which Tsuki began to attack their opponent viciously leaving them with no time to breathe.  Her speed and skills amazed the Michiba camp, and they had no one to stop her since they already had their hands full with Rukawa, Sakuragi and Goto.

The game ended with a final score of 124 – 98, Shohoku won by 26 points.

"You and your team have played well, Miyagi, and we've learned a lot from you."  Kobayashi said as he shook Miyagi's hand after the game.

Miyagi smiled.  "It's the same with us.  It's been great over the past week playing with you guys, Kobayashi.  And we'll see you at the IH."

"Yes."  Michiba's captain nodded.  "That vice-captain of yours is really something isn't she?"

Miyagi grinned.  "Never thought a girl could play bball like that huh?"

"Hai.  Her skills are amazing!  I've never seen anyone play like that before."  Kobayashi said as he glanced over at the Shohoku benches, where he saw Tsuki passing a towel and a bottle of water to Rukawa, who in turn used that towel to wipe away her perspirations.

"Hey, don't even think about chasing after her if you're smart.  If not, you'll be pounded into a pulp by our ice block there."  Miyagi said half teasing and half serious.

Kobayashi smiled a defeated smile.  "I never had a chance from the start…"

Miyagi patted his shoulders friendlily.  "You'll find some another girl someday."

"Yeah…"

o        o        o        o        o

It's the last night they'd be spending in Sendai before they head back for Kanagawa tomorrow.  The Shohoku players were having a night out to celebrate their win over Michiba at one of the local restaurant.

"Kanpai!"  Everyone raised their glasses to the toast (fruit juices or soft drinks or teas, nothing alcoholic, ok!! :P hehe…).

"That was a great win guys, well done!"  Miyagi commented happily to his team.

"Hai captain!"  Everyone replied smiling.

"Anyways, let's enjoy ourselves tonight then we head back to Kanagawa tomorrow and tell everyone the good news."  Miyagi paused a little then continued on a more solemn tone.  "However, don't be too full of yourselves just because we've just won the games of the training camp.  We still have great rivals ahead of us at the IH, and our goal is to be the best of the best, the number one team in Japan."

Ayako added, "Ryota's right.  Teams we are going to meet up against at the IH will be as strong as or stronger than Michiba, so be on full alert and don't take our current winnings for granted, and underestimate your opponents."

"Hai, Ayako-san!"  Everyone replied in unison.

Out of the blue, three guys walked over to the Shohoku table.  They were the guys who saw Tsuki at the café a few days back.

"Hey, you're the girl who drove that chrome colored N1."  One of them pointed at Tsuki.

Tsuki raised an eyebrow at them since she recognized them immediately.  "So what if I am?"  She asked sarcastically.

"Hey, we mean no harm, so cool it, k?"  Another guy said in a friendly tone and smile.

Tsuki sighed.  "So… what do you want?"

"You've got good driving skills.  We were wondering if you'd like to go for a race with us."  The second guy stated their reason for coming over to her.

"She doesn't race."  A flat, cold voice answered the three guys for Tsuki.  The owner of the voice was none other than Rukawa of cause.  If looks could kill, those guys were probably dead by now because of the 'big chill' they're experiencing.

"Nani?"  The third guy who'd been silent till now gasped.

"That's right, I don't race."  Tsuki stated flatly.

"Demo, you have such good skills …" Guy number three continued.

Tsuki shrugged.  "So what?  There's no such law stating that if a person has good driving skills they'd have to be a racer."

The three guys were rendered wordless by her words.  Another guy rushed into the restaurant calling to the three guys standing next to the Shohoku table.  "Lin!  They're here.  Project D is here."

The second of the three guys who were here first, Lin became wide-eyed at the announcement.  "What?  And you came and tell us now, Toshi?"

"Sorry Lin, but I came to tell you as fast as I could."  Toshi mumbled innocently.

 Lin threw his hands in the air in vexation, "Whatever, here goes nothing."  He turned to the other two guys who came together with him, "Let's go meet Takahashi Ryosuke and his Project D then.  Sei.  Kyo."

Sei and Kyo nodded, and followed Lin.  Just before the exited the restaurant, Tsuki called out to them.  "Hey, I'll go with you guys."  And she got up from her seat, ready to leave.

Lin turned around to look at her in surprise.  "Say that again?"

"I said I'll go with you guys."  Tsuki grinned.

"You sure?"  He asked her uncertainly.

"Yeaps!"  Tsuki smiled.  "Hey guys, go back to the dorms when you finish, k?  Don't wait for me; I'll go back as soon as possible."  She grabbed her bag and pushed her chair back to take her leave.  But Rukawa took hold of her wrist before she could go and questioned her with his eyes.  She smiled at him with reassurance.  "Don't worry; just gonna meet my cousin then I'll come back."

Rukawa nodded and released her wrist.  She smiled at him again then left with Lin and company.

o        o        o        o        o

Walking to their cars, Lin asked Tsuki curiously, "Thought you say you don't race, so how come you're coming with us?"

Tsuki smiled a knowing smiled and said, "You'll know soon.  And it's true that I don't race."

As they walked in the direction of the car park, Tsuki knew she'd parked her car there too.  After getting their cars, they headed toward the mountain pass.  Five mod cars were traveling together, with Tsuki trailing behind the four.  They all had a sticker on the rear panel of their cars saying 'Black Knights'.  Lin's car was a black Toyota Supra, Kyo's a red Honda NSX, an electric blue Honda Integra Type R for Sei and a yellow Nissan Silvia S15 for Toshi.  They sped up the mountain pass at speeds which Tsuki found as ridiculously slow!  

There's no way they can win over Project D.  In fact they can't even catch up with those guys with this type of speed. She shook her head in disapproval.

Even though they're slow, Tsuki didn't overtake them since she didn't want to cause them any problems with 'losing face'.  So she followed them 'slowly' and finally reached the top of the course after a droning twenty minutes.  She rolled her eyes and sighed inwardly.

Tsuki parked her car next to her cousin Takumi's AE 86.  "Takumi-nii chan!"  She said with a bright smile.

"What are you doing here Tsuki?"  Takumi asked in a puzzled tone.

"Was just in the area, so thought I'd drop by and say hi."  She grinned a very catlike grin (=^.^=).

"Aa."  Takumi scratched his cheek with his index finger (this is Fujiwara Takumi's trademark action… ^_^).

"Hey Tsuki."  Takahashi Keisuke hollered behind the cousins as he and his brother, Ryosuke walked up to them.

"Konichi wa Keisuke-san, Ryosuke-san."

"Konichi wa."  The brothers said in unison.

"So, what are you doing here Tsuki-chan?"  The older Takahashi (i.e. Ryosuke) asked her as he ruffled Tsuki's hair in a brotherly manner.

"Hey stop that!"  Pouted Tsuki as she tried to avert Ryosuke's hand.

Ryosuke and Keisuke laughed at Tsuki's messy hair, and Takumi also smiled at the situation.

"Takumi-nii chan, how can you stand there and watch these two bully your poor cousin, me?"  She complained as she poked her fingers at Takumi.

Takumi just shrugged.  "Humph!"  Tsuki heaved an irritated sigh.

"You haven't answered my question yet, kitty cat."  Ryosuke pressed, now using the nick name that her uncle called her by.

Tsuki rolled her eyes (she's been doing a lot of that lately hasn't she?? Hehehe… :P).

"Out team came here for a training camp with Michiba High School, and today's the last day.  I'm going back to Kanagawa tomorrow."  She paused a little the looked over to the opposite gallery where Lin and his fellow Black Knights, who were gaping at the scene that she and the Project D members created.  "As for why I'm here at this place, at this time …  Well, those guys, your opponents for tonight dropped by my team's dinner party just now to ask me for a race, and I declined as usual.  Then, I overheard their little meet with you guys, so I tagged along."

"I see."  Keisuke nodded.  "Hey, if you followed them up here, then can you tell us anything about their skills?"  He grinned mischievously.

"They're slow."  Tsuki said in a hopeless tone.

"You sure?  They're the fastest street racing team in Sendai."  Ryosuke asked inquisitively.

Nodding, Tsuki said, "They're slow speed wise and their techniques are just slightly above reasonable."

"Aniki?"  Keisuke turned to Ryosuke who's in deep thought.

Ryosuke broke out of his thinking session.  "Don't forget that looks are sometimes deceiving, Keisuke.  We're going to continue as planned.  The race will start in half an hour's time."  He said rationally.

Keisuke and Takumi both nodded.  In the meantime, Lin walked over to Tsuki and asked, "You know them?"

Tsuki smiled at Lin politely this time.  "Why of cause, since the famous Akina 86's driver here is my cousin."  She then offered her hand to Lin.  "Fujima Tsuki desu, yoroshiku."

Lin took her hand and shook it.  "Amamiya Lin, yoroshiku."  He said smiling.

The sound from roaring engines can be heard coming uphill.  In a few minutes, a few cars arrived in front of the already gathered groups.  It was Nakazato Takeshi's R32 and his fellow Night Kids, Shouji Shingo in his red Honda Civic EG6.  There were also a few more cars that came up behind them, which should be team members of the Black Knights.

Takeshi and Shingo pulled up next to the Takahashi's RX-7s.  "Hi Fujima."  They greeted Tsuki simultaneously, then glared at each other.  "You copied me!"  They shouted at each other at the same time.  Everyone sweat-dropped.  (^_^;;)

Tsuki shook her head and smiled.  "Konba wa Takeshi-san, Shingo-san."  Ryosuke remained poker faced as usual, Keisuke and Takumi both sighed mushroom breaths.

"Well, looks like we should get ready.  Ja."  Lin walked back to his team.

Tsuki checked out a few cars she found interesting while the Project D members discuss their plans and tactics for the coming race.  At 9:30pm sharp, all the cars which were parked on the road were cleared and members for each team went to their assigned posts to record time etc…

The race soon started with Takumi racing in the downhill leg as usual and Keisuke in the uphill.  Just as Tsuki predicted, Black Knights were no match for Project D.  Lin who raced against Takumi never had the chance to close the gap between them once Takumi overtook him and sped ahead.  In the uphill race, Keisuke trailed Sei's Integra until the last two corners then he overtook Sei.  The Black Knights admitted defeat gracefully, and thanked Project D for the race.

Before Tsuki left, she spoke to Lin and Sei.  "You guys know the techniques but not how to combine the techniques with speed, and this is your Achilles' heel.  If you really want to win, especially against drivers like my cousin and the Takahashi brothers, then you should really polish up on your skills and amalgamate them with you speed.  You should've noticed how different the ways they drive are to yours."  She said while smiling sincerely.

Lin sighed.  "Yeah, I know.  Thanks for the tip; I'll make sure that my team practices more to improve."

Sei agreed.  "Yeah, those guys are so fast.  I've never seen anyone turn a corner like that before."

Tsuki smiled, "They are extremely good drivers you know…"

Both guys nodded.  They sure have learnt a lot from the race they just had…

Tsuki bit her goodbyes her new found friends in the Black Knights and headed back to the dormitories at Michiba when Project D left.

o        o        o        o        o

Tsuki lay in bed that night and thought about things that'd happened during their week's stay at Sendai.

Things sure have taken a turn for the better.  Sakuragi isn't obsessed with Haruko anymore, so he's no longer acting like a fool around her.  I myself is on good terms with Kae-chan, and god knows where this coming to be relationship is gonna lead us.  Anyways, at least I'm not stuck on juggling emotions around anymore, fate will lead us through it all…somehow… She drifted off to the sweetness of dream world with a smile as one last thought came to mind.  This is a new beginning, for me and Kae-chan, and for everyone…

_akane __の__  tea house:_

_Liked it?  Hate it?  Flames?  Comments?  All are welcomed…  Soshite…  Review please?  Onegai shimasta…  Arigatou gosaimasu.  =^.^=_


	14. Her Promise to Him

_Disclaimers:  I don't own SD or Initial D, which is really really sad ….  *sigh*  _

NB:      …    Thoughts

(…)      akane's ramblings

"…"     character's speech

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**Chapter 14 – Her Promise to Him**

They arrived at Hiroshima two hours ago and they've just been to the opening ceremony of the summer national inter-high school competition.  They've pled their vows of sportsmanship and been assigned to lodgings.  This year unlike the previous, Shohoku's seeded as an A team instead of the C team they were labeled last year.  Ryonan, the other IH championship contender from Kanagawa was labeled as a B team.

After the long and boring opening ceremony, the Shohoku players met up with those of Ryonan's outside.

Flashing his usual megawatt smiles, the spiky haired captain of Ryonan greeted their fellow Kanagawans (I made this name up, ok?  If you don't like it, gimme a better suggestion  ^_~).  "Hi guys."

"Hey Sendoh."  Miyagi returned his greeting with a smile.

"Hi Aki-nii chan."  Tsuki smiled sweetly at one of her so called big brothers.

Sendoh tried to snug up to Tsuki when he saw her but he almost bumped into Kaede who was glaring daggers at him for his stupid attempt.

"Ano, hi Rukawa."  Sendoh said sheepishly.

"Hn."  Kaede was cold as ever…

"Hey, loosen up will ya, don't have to be so tense all the time."  Sendoh yelped.

Kaede sneered at the older boy.  "Loosen up when a hentai like you is around?  What a laugh!"

Despite of the insults, Sendoh was overwhelmed by surprise.  "Wow!  You actually spoke more than ten words at one go!  Amazing!"

"Do'aho!"  Grunted Kaede and turned away from Sendoh.

"Take a walk with me?"  Kaede asked Tsuki softly such that she'll hear him but others won't.

Tsuki looked up at him and smiled.  She nodded.  "OK, but we should settle our luggage first, don't you think?"  She replied in the same soft tone as Kaede's.

He agreed and picked up her bag for her.  "Captain, we're going over to the dorms first."  Kaede said flatly to Miyagi.

Miyagi and the others who were mingling with Ryonan's players turned to look at Kaede with raised brows.  Ayako smiled and said, "Go ahead you two, we'll catch up later.  Tsuki, we're at room 9, k?"

Tsuki nodded and walked off with Kaede leaving a teeth gritting Sendoh and bewildered Ryonan players behind.

Sakuragi who thought he'd be nice to Sendoh for once patted him on the shoulders.  "Sendoh, you'll get beaten up by that kitsune if you keep this up.  You don't have any chances with neko-chan at all, so quit it."

Sendoh growled lowly and clenched his fists as he watched Kaede took Tsuki's hand into his as they walked away.  Rukawa, what do you have that I don't?  Why did Tsuki-chan choose you over me?

o        o        o        o        o

The first game Shohoku played was on the first day of the IH games were against a team from Chiba.  Tsuki did not play, and they won the game with ease since the other team couldn't keep up with Shohoku's agility.  Tsuki sat out of the remaining preliminary games observing each team carefully and drew new strategies for her team to go against the next.

Eight schools were left in the quarter finals, of which two was from Kanagawa, i.e. Shohoku and Ryonan.  Shohoku's opponent in the quarter finals was against Michiba, the school which they'd trained with just weeks before.  Michiba made it into the quarter finals for the first time in three years, so their players were all energetic and spirited to win.  But they still lost even though they had the motivations to win.

Shohoku played against Tokyo's Furinkang High in the semi-finals.  The game was a close one since they tied at the end of the second half and had to go into overtime play.  However, Shohoku won the game 105 – 101, which ended with Sakuragi shooting his first three-pointer in the IH games.  This shocked everyone.  Since when did that red head learnt to shoot three pointers?

Ryonan didn't have the luck Shohoku had in the semi-finals.  Their opponent was Sannoh.  Although Sendoh was able to block off the attacks of Sawakita Eiji, the other Ryonan players weren't able to keep up with the other Sannoh players.  They lost to Sannoh 98 – 87.

The finals were between Shohoku and Sannoh.  Shohoku determined to win the IH championship for the first time in their school's history, and Sannoh determined to avenge the lost to their counterparts last year.

Players from Kainan and Shoyo came to support Shohoku, and so did the Sakuragi Gundan.  The Ryonan players also stayed another day in Hiroshima to cheer for Shohoku.  Akagi Takenori, Kogure Kiminobu, and Mitsui Hisashi also came to watch the game and to cheer their kohai on.

During the warm-up session, Sakuragi was more bubbly and hyperactive than usual.  Everyone eyed him curiously, even Kaede sensed that something might have happened to cause the red head to 'bouncier' (the right word to use?  Hehe :P) than usual.

Tsuki walked up to Sakuragi.  "Ne Sakuragi-kun, daijoubu?"

Sakuragi grinned stupidly, "Daijoubu daijoubu.  I've never been better."

"Err…  OK, if you say so."  Tsuki eyed him strangely and walked away.

Kaede dribbled the ball as he walked over to Tsuki.  "What's with that do'aho?"

Tsuki shrugged.  "No idea."

Sakuragi continued to grin stupidly for the rest of the warm-up sessions.  Happy thoughts were flying around his head as he remembered what'd happen half an hour ago…

~*~*~*~*~     Flashback         ~*~*~*~*~

"Sakuragi sempai!"  Hashima Senko shouted as she ran toward the red head.

"Aa, Senko-san."  Sakuragi smiled at her in greetings.

Senko scuffled her feet a little as she stood in front of Sakuragi.  "Ganbatte ne sempai.  I know you'll win this game.  I'll be cheering for you."  She blushed as she spoke.

Sakuragi was a little startled at first but smiled at the younger girl.  "Arigatou Senko-san.  I'll win this game no matter what.  For Shohoku, for our team, for us."  He said tenderly.

Senko's head shot up to look at her dream guy.  "Did… did I just hear what I thought I heard?"

The red head's smile broadened.  "Hai.  You did hear it and it's no illusion.  I'm asking you this once, will you be my girl, Senko?"

Senko's mouth opened and closed but with no words coming out.  She was speechless!  She'd never thought that the guy whom she'd fallen head over heels for will ever ask her to become his girlfriend.

When she finally managed to gather some words, she stuttered badly.  "But…but…I…I thought…you like Haru…Haruko sempai?"

"Yes I do like Haruko-chan."  He paused as he noticed the pained look on her face.  "But only as one of my best friend.  The one I'm in love with is you Senko."

Senko looked at him in disbelief.  "But…but…how can that be?  And, since when?"

"Since neko-chan yelled at me for being an idiot and after having a long talk with Haruko to sort out my feelings."  He placed his hands onto her shoulders gently and pulled her towards him.  "Those two girls can be so nasty when they needed to be.  But at least I found my true feelings through their friendly nastiness.  I found that what I felt towards you is genuine, not silly fetishism or stupid crushes.  I'm in love with you, Senko."

Before he knew it, Senko's crushed herself against him, hugging him tightly.  "I love you too sempai.  I've been in love with you ever since I first saw you on the courts a year ago."

Sakuragi hugged her back dearly and kissed the top of her head.  "Thank you for loving me Senko, I promise I'll always love you no matter what."

Senko looked up and saw the warmest brown eyes she'd ever seen.  Those brown gems were filled with so much love that their tenderness is fluid enough to flow out as droplets of water.  She smiled brightly and lovingly at the red head.  "I love you with all my heart Sakuragi Hanamichi.  Ai shi te ru."

"Watashi mou.  Ai shi te ru Senko."  He said before he lifter her chin and pressed his lips onto hers and sealed his promise to her with his kiss.

~*~*~*~*~     End of Flashback          ~*~*~*~*~

"Oi Hanamichi!"  Miyagi calling to the red head for the nth time.  "Earth to Hanamichi!"  

Finally frustrated with the non-responding red head, he threw a basketball at him, and the ball landed on his grinning face.  (Ouchies!  ^_^;)

Snapping out of his reverie due to the forceful hit, the red head glared at their captain.  "What the hell was that for Ryochin!?"  He roared.

"Teme Sakuragi!  What the hell were you doing daydreaming on court, you baka!"  Miyagi roared back at Sakuragi.

Everyone, which included the players from both teams and all the spectators in the stadium, had a major sweat-dropping session.

A second basketball flew out of no where and hit Sakuragi's backside this time.

"Calm yourself do'aho, the game's about to start.  I don't want to lose because of you."  Kaede stabbed the tensai with cold words, yet a friendly reminder nonetheless.

"Teme kitsune!"  Sakuragi started.  "You're lucky that I'm in a good mood today and it's before a game, so I'll let you off this time and not beat you into a pulp.  Nyahahahahahaha…"

"Do'aho."  The blue-eyed boy rolled his eyes and walked over to the benches.

Sakuragi grinned.  "Baka kitsune was never able to compete with the tensai!  Nyhahahaha…"  He went into one of his crazy laughing fits again while everyone on the Shohoku bench sighed mushroom breaths.  But deep down inside the boisterous and annoying laughter, Sakuragi was rather thankful toward Kaede.  Thanks for that wakeup call, kitsune. He smiled to himself.  He had stayed on cloud nine for too long since that special moment.

The announcer soon spoke to welcome everyone to the grand final of the IH games.  He introduced the starting players from both schools, and Tsuki was one of them.

When they stepped into the court and readied themselves for the jump ball, Sawakita said bold words to Kaede.  "I'll make sure you lose this game Rukawa.  The last time was a careless mistake and I guarantee that won't happen again.  You're out of luck, ace."

Kaede glared at him then a mocking smile crept over his handsome face.  "I'll show you how wrong you are Sawakita.  You lost last year and you'll lose again this year."

Tsuki heard their conversation and smirked inwardly.  Kae-chan's gonna give that guy a beating today.  He's been waiting for this for quite a while already.  This is gonna be fun!

Sawakita continued to provoke Kaede further by saying, "A girl in your team this year huh?  You think a 'girl' can match against the best players in Japanese high school?"

Surprisingly Kaede let out a soft tiny laugh.  "You're so full of yourself Sawakita, and that's why you'll be losing to us today."

He looked over to Tsuki who gave him a smile.  Their eyes met for a moment and silent words were exchanged.

You're not upset by that clown are you, Kae-chan?

Of course not, but I am a bit ticked off by his comment about you.

Don't worry, it's nothing.  He'll know how wrong he is when the game starts, right?

Yeah.  We're gonna kick ass today!

Yeaps!

Both Tsuki and Kaede's eyes sparkled with life and determination.  Show no mercy! The thought shared by the two.

The umpire blew the whistle and  tossed the ball into the air.  Sakuragi jumped for it when the ball reached its maximum height and swatted it with full force towards Miyagi.  Miyagi jumped and caught the ball.  He yelled, "Fast break!"

Shohoku players ran towards their opponent's goal at their captain's command.  Tsuki ran passed Miyagi and got the ball off him.  She faked a three-pointer and passed the ball to Goto who was just behind her to drive into the key and made a beautiful jump-shot.  The crowd went crazy.  The skills displayed by Tsuki and Goto in less than one minute into the game startled coaches, players and spectators, also the sport reporters present.  Especially since Tsuki sat out during all the past games and only joined this one.

Very soon, Sawakita was off his high heels.  Dark clouds loomed over him as his mood changed from bad to worse and worse to worst.  He couldn't believe how good Kaede and Sakuragi had become in just one year's time, and was green with envy when he saw Tsuki displayed her skills in front of his eyes.

Who is this girl?  How come I've never heard of her?  Sawakita kept frowning.

Shohoku never lost the lead they had on Sannoh.  The game ended with Shohoku exiting the IH tournament as the new champions.  The score was 95 – 78.

The celebration the Kanagawa teams had was huge, and it continued when they went back to Kanagawa with the trophy in hand.

o        o        o        o        o

The summer vacation came and went.  The exception this time was Hanamichi being picked to join National Youth Basketball Training Camp with Kaede, together with Sendoh.  Their performances at the IH were so impressing that rumors of them being allocation places in the national team were heard frequently.  But just how true were the rumors?  No one knew for sure, not until they do make it into the national team. 

The summer season of basketball had gone.  As the color of the maple reddened to announce the arrival of autumn, winter followed closely behind.  This meant the arrival of the winter championships, and the last games for the seniors.  Shohoku played Kainan for the title in that series and won.  Kiyota was cursing and swearing beneath his breath during the presentations because he couldn't believe they lost to Shohoku again.

In the meantime, Hanamichi and Senko's relationship had stabilized, and they made such a cute couple that the Gundan always teases them.  Obviously, this got the Gundan being head butted by Hanamichi as usual.  (*sigh*  some things just don't ever changes…)

Miyagi passed down his captain's duties to Kaede just before Christmas and the vice-captain went to Sakuragi.  Tsuki became their assistant coach, and she also remained a player who played when she's needed on court or when she felt like it.  A new generation of Shohoku basketballers was born that day.  Another surprise that caught the team on the same day was the invitations Kaede sent out.  Kaede had invited all his present and pass teammates to a Christmas ball, which was to be held at his house on Christmas Eve.  The ball was held every year by his parents as a treat for his father's company's employees and business associates.  This year, Kaede had decided to invite his whole team to come along for the fun as well (well…it's more like he can't stand the boring event any longer that's why he's dragging everyone down with him… kekeke…  XD).

The whole Fujima family was invited to the Christmas ball held at the Rukawa mansion.  In turned out that Fujima Shiuichi was a business associate of Rukawa Tatsuya, Kaede's father.  Therefore, Tsuki didn't have to go to the ball alone.

Tsuki wore a silver colored dress which draped over her body flawlessly.  Her hair was done up in a French knot with a few frills falling against her cheeks.  The light makeup she had on made her features more prominent.  All in all, she looked gorgeous!  She walked downstairs and was met by Kenji, who held out his right arm to her.  She took his gentlemanly offer and stepped out into the waiting car where her uncle and aunt had been waiting for them, after the maid put her coat on for her.

When they arrived, a number of guests were already socializing in the large ball room.  Kaede had been looking out for Tsuki ever since the sun set into the west that evening.  Finally, he spotted her entering the doors and went to her.  He gaped at the beauty before his eyes.

"Don't recognize me, Kae-chan?"  Tsuki teased.

The raven head smiled sweetly at her.  "Of course not.  I'll recognize you no matter how you've disguised yourself."

"That's nice to hear."

Kaede offered his hand to her and she took it.  He immediately pulled her to his sides and wrapped his large hands over her delicate ones.

Fujima Shiuichi and Kazumi saw this and smiled.  They're happy for Tsuki because they saw the unquestionable emotion; love, Kaede's clear sapphires emanated.

"Hey Rukawa, forget about something?"  Kenji said mischievously as he glanced at his parents.

Kaede smiled thanking Kenji for the remainder.  "Fujima san, watashi wa Rukawa Kaede desu.  Yoroshiku gosaimasu."  He bowed deeply.

"Well, nice to meet you at last young man.  I've heard quite a lot about you from Kenji and Tsuki."  Shiuichi said with a knowing smile.

"Aa."  Kaede blushed.  He was lost for words.  He'd never imagined Tsuki's uncle being so direct.

Kazumi let out a small laugh which eased Kaede's awkwardness.  "Why don't you kids go have some fun?"  She said.

The 'kids' nodded and bowed before taking their leave.

Kenji soon found a few friends and went off to chat with them.  Kaede brought Tsuki to where some of their teammates were and stayed chatting with them for a while.  One unexpected sight was the display of constant intimacy between Kogure and Mitsui.  Tsuki raised an eyebrow at the view.  Kaede saw her reaction and whispered something in her ears, and she nodded.

"After returning to the team, Mitsui sempai confessed to Kogure sempai, and they've been a couple ever since."  Kaede whispered.

Tsuki nodded.  "They look so cute together."

"I know."  He smiled at her.

"I'll introduce you to my parents."  Kaede said as he saw his parents neared.

Tsuki hesitated for an instant but agreed.  He took her by the arm and led her to where his parents were.

"Tou san, kaa san."  Kaede called to his parents, who turned to see their son with a beautiful girl.  "This is Fujima Tsuki, the girl I've told you about."

Rukawa Tatsuya and Rukawa Yukino smiled at Tsuki kindly.  Yukino spoke first.  "We've always heard Kaede talking about you when he's home, and now we get to meet you in person finally."

Both teenagers blushed at her words.  Tatsuya continued after his wife.  "That is so true, it's nice to meet you at last, Tsuki-chan."

Tsuki bowed politely.  "Thank you sir.  The pleasure's all mine."  She smiled a dazzling smile.

Tatsuya punched his son jokingly on the shoulders while grinning.  "Way to go son."

Kaede blushed further and a shade of pink started to form on this ivory skin.  "Tou san!"  He grumbled.

Tatsuya and Yukino laughed at their son's embarrassed actions and at the blushing Tsuki.

"Now go and have fun you two, it's Christmas Eve, and you should be enjoying yourselves."  Yukino said cheerfully as she dragged her husband into the crowd with her.

While everyone chatted or danced gleefully on the dance floor, Kaede brought Tsuki upstairs to the library.  He knew she loved books and crystals.  Tsuki gasped at the sight presented before her as he pushed the heavy oak doors open.  The walls were lined with bookshelves filled with books of all kinds and languages.  She was overwhelmed.  But what took her breath away were the countless crystal figurines that shone so beautifully under the designer lamps in the showcases that separated the bookshelves.

She was mesmerized by the beautiful statuettes.  She walked across the room to one of the showcases and gazed at the crystal, not knowing that Kaede had followed her and pulled her into his embrace.

"I know you'd like them."  He whispered.

Tsuki nodded.  "They're so beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as you."

Tsuki blushed.  At that moment, she knew what she felt for this iced boy was love.  She knew that she'd fallen deeper than she'd ever before, not even that blasted so-called relationship she had before was comparable with what she had with Kaede now.  And now, she knew it's time to tell Kaede about her feelings and give him the answer he'd been waiting for.

"Kae-chan, I have something to tell you."  She whispered softly as she leaned backwards, deeper into his embrace.

"Hmm?"

She turned herself to face him and held his face with her hands.  "Ai shi te ru, Rukawa Kaede."  She confessed while smiling lovingly at him.

Kaede's eyes widened, and then in a split second, he lifted Tsuki and twirled around in circles.  They both laughed uncontrollably at his actions.  When he stopped circling, he peered deep into her blue depths with his sapphires.  "Honto?"

Tsuki smiled and answered his question by pulling his head down, pressing her lips onto his.  The kiss was sweet and tender.  When they parted, Kaede whispered, "Watashi mou, ai shi te ru Fujima Tsuki.  Always."

Their lips met once more…

o        o        o        o        o

Their senior year in Shohoku saw to the engagements of two couples.  Kaede and Tsuki, and Hanamichi and Senko.  Their friends cheered for them at their engagement parties and well wishes were passed out to them from everyone.  At this point in time, Sendoh'd finally acknowledged defeat in losing Tsuki to Kaede.  But he showed up at their engagement party to wish them good luck for the future gracefully.  Another thing was that both Kaede and Hanamichi had been officially offered places in the national basketball team.  They are now members of the national team.

It was the first of January again, announcing the birth of a New Year and Kaede's eighteenth birthday.  Tsuki and Kaede strolled along street holding hands.

"Ano, Kae-chan, I need to talk to you about something."  Tsuki broke the silence.

"Nani?"  He asked.

"You know I applied for a scholarship to Cambridge in the UK right?"  Seeing him nod, she continued.  "Well, I just received a letter from them saying that the scholarship's been approved, and they'd like to see me there by the middle of summer."

Kaede stopped and held her hands in his.  He looked into her eyes and said, "You thought that I'd disapprove of your decision?"

Tsuki smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, guess I kindda did think that."

He smiled and knocked her forehead playfully.  "Silly you, what made you think I'd disapprove?  I would never stop you from going there to study.  I will not allow you to hold back your dreams because of me.  You will go to Cambridge next summer and I'll be waiting for you here, right here in Japan.  I'll wait for you to return to me no matter how long it'll take."

Tsuki was extremely touched by Kaede's speech.  She embraced him with all her heart.  "Arigatou Kae-chan, arigatou for understanding and not making me choose."

Returning her embrace, Kaede smiled down at his love.  "Promise to come back to me, OK?"

Tsuki nodded her head furiously as she leaned further into his embrace.  "I promise."

They continued to walk toward their destination, which was the restaurant they were to celebrate Kaede's birthday in.  Suddenly, Kaede stopped walking as he heard the chimes of the ice-cream van from across the road.

"Kae-chan?"  Tsuki asked puzzlingly.

"Wait here, k?"  He dashed across the street to the ice-cream van.

Tsuki smiled at his childish actions.  She knew how much Kaede love ice-cream and can never not have some when he saw them.  This was why he ran across the street now.

Then, a horribly loud noise was heard.  Tsuki's heart writhed as she witnessed Kaede's body being tossed into the air like a piece of rag.

"IYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"  Tsuki screamed.  She ran to where Kaede's body landed and saw his body colored in scarlet.  She gathered his lifeless body in her arms and screamed to the onlookers.  "CALL FOR AN AMBULANCE!  HURRY!"

"Kae-chan, yamete!  Don't leave me!  You said you'd never leave me!"  Strings of crystal tears fell from her blue eyes.  "Yamete!  YAMETEEEEEEEEEEE!"

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_akane __の__ teahouse…_

_I'm so cruel!  :) wahahahaha~ *grins evilly*_


	15. Epilogue: Okaeri

_Disclaimers:  I don't own SD or Initial D, which is really really sad ….  *sigh*  _

NB:      …    Thoughts

(…)      akane's ramblings

"…"     character's speech

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**Epilogue – Okaeri…**

****

Tsuki walked leisurely along the paved pathway of the national sports centre.  Looking up, masses of sakuras in pink and white were dancing to the gentle spring breeze.  Petals of the beautiful bloom can be seen swirling in the air creating a picturesque scene.  She stopped in her tracks to admire the scene she'd missed so much when she was away.  It had been six years since she last saw the sakuras in full bloom.  She'd finally achieved the goals she set out to accomplish.  She now worked as a freelance computer software designer and analyst for a few well known computer companies throughout the world, and she'd just been offered a place as a professor at the University of Kanagawa.

Things sure have changed over the years.  Hanamichi married Senko a couple of years ago, and Ayako was now pregnant with her and Miyagi's second child.  Ayako's the manageress of the national team although her hubby had left basketball and went into the family business.  Ex-players from the four schools famous for their basketball achievements in Kanagawa were now members of the national team, and or being very successful in their own fields of expertise.  These were all told to Tsuki by Haruko through their frequent emailing.  Haruko herself was now engaged to someone she met when she studied in the University of Kyoto.  His name was Sakamura Mosuke, an architect.  Her cousin Kenji and close friends Maki, Hanagata and Sendoh had also found their true love, but she didn't know the lucky ladies or gentlemen yet.  Haruko had also told her that Mitsui and Kogure finally tied the knot after years of begging from Mitsui.  (*grins* :P)

She looked up ahead at her target destination, the training centre that was built specifically for the national basketball team.  She smiled and continued her walk.  The glass doors opened and she was greeted by familiar faces that were marked with surprise.  One of the individuals inside, a female who was very pregnant rushed over and hugged her dearly.

"You're finally back."  The curly haired woman said in a soft happy tone.

Tsuki nodded as she returned her sempai's hug.  "Hai, Ayako sempai, and it's so nice to see you and everyone else again."

Pulling away from each other, Ayako and Tsuki smiled at each other.  Tsuki turned to look at everyone who was there, old and new faces could be seen.  She nodded at everyone she knew as a gesture of saying hi, and those who knew her either nodded back or waved at her in acknowledgement.  She then went over to one brown haired, blue eyed man.

"I've missed you Kenji-nii chan."  She said as he hugged Kenji.

Kenji returned her hug.  "So have I, so have we."  He said happily as he hugged his cousin whom he'd missed dearly for the past few years.

After Kenji released her from his hug, he pointed to one corner at the opposite end of the courts.  A raven haired, ivory skinned male was sitting on the floor, dozing, with his left hand leaning on his crooked left knee.  His head drooping while he snoozed.  Tsuki's eyes sparkled brightly at the sight and her blue orbs softened as emotions overwhelmed her senses.  He's still hanging onto this bad habit of his. 

She walked over to the sleeping male quietly as others watch.  Maki, Sendoh, and other old friends of theirs smiled happily for them.  She bent over and brushed away the strands of raven locks that covered the face of her love.  The figure stirred and a clenched fist flew in her direction (can't believe that he still does that after all these years right?  *sigh* some things just don't change… ^_^;).  She grabbed that flying fist and held it firmly in her soft hands.

"No one disturbs …"  The sleeping figure opened his eyes when his fist was held by the soft yet firm gripping hands and stopped what he was saying.  His eyes bulged in disbelief.  He even used his free hand to rub his eyes to make sure that he wasn't seeing things and what he saw wasn't a figment of his imagination.

"You're not dreaming Kae-chan."  Tsuki smiled at his childlike behaviour.

Kaede pulled Tsuki into a tight embrace and nuzzled his face into her long brown hair.  "You've finally came back to me."

Nodding her head as she took in his soft musky scent.  "I've missed you my love.  I've missed you so much."

"I know.  I have missed you too, my angle."  He whispered huskily.  His voice was choked with emotions, and most of all, relief.

No more words were needed.  They held each other tightly, ignoring the stares and wops of joy surrounding them.

Those who did not know Tsuki were looking at the pair of love birds in bewilderment.

"Who's that girl?"  "She blocked Kaede sempai's punch, sugoi…"  "She's the prettiest girl I've seen in my life, who's she?!"  "What's their relationship?!"  "The Ice Prince has a girl?  Since when?"  ……  These were the type of questions thrown about by those who didn't know of Tsuki and Kaede's relationship.

"Ahem!  Excuse me, but do you mind stopping what you're doing and continue it when you get home?"  A boisterous voice rang above Tsuki and Kaede.

The pair separated and stood up to face the annoying person who'd disturb their magical moment.  Kaede was frowning and glaring icicles at the person, but Tsuki smiled at him jovially.

"Do'aho."  Kaede blurted.

"Teme kitsune!"  Hanamichi held up a clenched fist at Kaede.

It was just like the good old days back in Shohoku High as the two started one of their staring contests again while everyone sweat-dropped. 

A third voice quickly called out to settle the familiar dispute between the two ex-Shohoku players.

"Ma, ma, please stop this unnecessary bickering, Rukawa-kun, Sakuragi-kun."  The gentle voice of the newly appointed physiotherapist of the national team, who was also the ex-vice captain of Shohoku, Kogure said desperately, worrying that the two star players of their team would start on of their fist fights.

The glaring between the aka ozaru and the kitsune continued for a moment, and then both burst into a laughing fit.  As usual, large drops of sweat hung from everyone's temple.  The two arch-rivals had become close friends after being engaged to their true loves, so it was quite rare to see them argue like they used to.  It was quite a warm scene as it brought back old memories.

Both males in the centre of the commotion suddenly stopped laughing and cried.  "ITAI!!"  Two bumps were freshly conjured by Ayako's infamous paper fan, one on each guy's head smoking away.

Tsuki and everyone who'd known the two since high school broke into laughter.  Just like the good old days…

What followed was Kaede staring daggers at Ayako while Hanamichi pulled his innocent puppy eyes at Ayako, asking her what he'd done wrong to deserve this.

Tsuki recomposed herself as she looked on at the situation with a smile curving her lips.  She could still how close she was to losing the person she loved with her heart and soul six years ago… 

Six years ago…

When Kaede was hit by that car, she'd nearly gone into another mental breakdown.  But she pulled through the ordeal as her family and friends were there to support her as she waited outside the emergency room.  She collapsed after twenty bleak hours of waiting when the doctors announced that her fiancé's condition had stabilized because she was drained mentally and physically.  

Kaede went through a few more operations after the emergency rescue, and she stay with him through all of them.  His path to recovery was a long one since he had server internal bleeding and the majority of the bones in his limbs were shattered by force of the accident.  Tsuki had deferred her study plans in the UK for a year to stay with him while he went through strenuous physiotherapy sessions, giving him support by means of her love.  Kaede had disagreed with this arrangement, but caved-in to her tears.

Therefore, seeing him standing beside her now was the best sight she'd seen in her entire life.  She's grateful for what she had now and will always treasure every single moments of it.  She could see a future before them, a future which had Kaede by her side.

Kaede looked at her just as she looked up at him.  They smiled at each other.  

"Tadaima."  Tsuki said as she looked into the tender eyes of her love.

"Okaeri."  Kaede replied tenderly.

Tsuki tipped her toes as Kaede lowered his head.  Their lips touched as their eyes closed …

**~*~*~*~          OWARI          ~*~*~*~**

_akane __の teahouse…_

_Finally!!!  It's done!!!  *Throws confetti around~~~*   \\^o^//_

_Anyways…this is just one of those thoughts that flew by my eyes at weird times, so I decided to put them down as solid words.  Hope you liked it ^_~_

_Sayonara…for now~ :)_

_P/s:      REVIEW PLEASE?  ONEGAISHIMASU!!  ARIGATOU~  :D_


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